Employment tribunal decision on on-call staff overturned

A decision made by an employment tribunal has been overturned, with a second tribunal ruling employees who are on call are only required to be paid for the hours they are actually working.

The employment tribunal had previously found in favour of the employees in the case South Manchester Abbeyfield Society v Hopkins and Woodworth, in which it was claimed staff should be offered minimum wage if they are required to sleep at their workplace while on call.

However, an appeal tribunal has now said staff should only be paid for the hours when they are awake and working, ThirdSector reported.

"The appeal tribunal's judgement drew a clear distinction between cases in which an employee is working simply by being present on the employer's premises - for example, a nightwatchman - and those where sleeping accommodation is provided and the employee is simply on call," Victoria Willson wrote for the news provider.

Following the appeal tribunal's decision, the case will be resubmitted to consider if the employees involved are entitled to any compensation.

Another employment tribunal recently ruled a former playground monitor would not receive compensation for wrongful dismissal, as she had committed gross misconduct before being fired.

Published by Tessa Jones