Brussels, 09/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission did not succeed in establishing that the collective agreement and a standard contract of employment for non-consultant hospital doctors in Ireland are in breach of EU law, the EU Court of Justice ruled (case C-87/14) on Thursday 9 July.
Thus the Court rejected action for failure to fulfil obligations lodged against Ireland by the Commission. Certain provisions of the collective agreement and the standard contract of employment are contrary to the rules in Directive 2003/88/EC on the organisation of working time, in the Commission's view. It was unhappy that time spent in training is not counted as working time, that the reference period for non-consultant hospital doctors was extended, without objective reasons, to twelve months and that the standard contract of employment does not mention the right to minimum daily and weekly rest periods.
The Court observes that the Commission did not establish that, during training, the doctors are required to be physically present at a place determined by the employer (the training is organised by independent bodies) nor that they are to be at the disposal of the latter. The Court observes, too, that training is not compulsory.
With regard to the reference period, which is used to determine the average working time for each seven-day period (which must not exceed 48 hours), the directive allows extension to six or even twelve months where this can be justified by objective or technical reasons or reasons relating to the organisation of work. In the view of the Court, this extension to twelve months is perfectly justified for non-consultant hospitals doctors in Ireland given the flexibility that is required in organising work in hospitals.
Lastly, the Commission, by referring to certain provisions of the standard contract of employment in isolation, the exact scope of which is, moreover, subject to discussion between the parties, the Commission did not succeed in establishing the existence of a practice contrary to the directive, the Court considers. The Commission did not contest the way in which the directive was transposed into Irish law, suggesting that the legal framework that exists in Ireland is clear and applicable, the judges note. (Jan Kordys)