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gig every year (with the exception of 1904 and 1905 – the Russo-Japanese war got in the way) up until the Russian Revo
A ROMANOV EASTER The ovum we really want

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PAID TO BE ON CALL? A Belgian tribunal says yes

Your weekly bulletin of wit & wonder in the world of…

Wg Employment Issue 594/March 2018 Here comes Easter and once again, I’ll be wondering… is THIS the year? Could 2018 be the year when I finally get the egg I really want. You know, solid gold, encrusted with priceless jewels and intended for the Russian royal family. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m always delighted with a nice Thornton’s effort or even Cadbury’s, but they somehow lack a certain quality… a certain fabulous extravagance. They’re just not very sparkly, are they? The first egg was created for Tsar Alexander III who commissioned it for his wife. The empress was so delighted with it, that Peter Carl Fabergé got the egg making gig every year (with the exception of 1904 and 1905 – the Russo-Japanese war got in the way) up until the Russian Revolution in 1917. Now, I’m all for the proletariat overturning the ruling class once in a while, but it IS a shame we lost the egg tradition. Just fifty imperial eggs were made and are now worth staggering amounts. Ten of them are displayed at Moscow’s Kremlin Armory Museum. And look, I know things are a bit tense between us Brits and the Russians right now, but would it be asking too much for my husband to fly out there, pop in, nudge the cabinet over and slip one of them in his pocket for me? He would then exit in the style of James Bond with the alarms shrieking and security pouring out after him before escaping in a stealth helicopter. Yes. He’ll queue in Thornton’s for a bit of piping but apparently a little heist in the Kremlin is “too much trouble”. Eight of those eggs are missing. Somewhere in the world, an egg worth millions is sitting in somebody’s sock drawer. Maybe with rubber bands in it. Oh, hang on. Just checked on Amazon. Turns out you can get a Fabergé egg for as little as £17.97. I’m not totally sure they’re authentic, mind.

The cost of standing by And speaking of uncertainty brings me to the case of Ville de Nivelles v Matzak, in which the European Court of Justice considered whether time spent by a firefighter, who was at home on ‘stand-by’, was considered ‘working time’ under the Working Time Directive (WTD). Rudy Matzak, a volunteer firefighter for the Ville de Nivelles in Belgium, was on-call during the evenings and weekends one week out of four. He was allowed to stay at home when on call but had to be ready and able to attend the fire station within eight minutes of being called. This meant that he was required to live near to the fire station, and the activities he was able to carry out while on stand-by were severely restricted. Mr Matzak was not paid for the time he spent on ‘stand-by’. After Mr Matzak had finished his one year probation, he brought proceedings against his employer complaining that he should be paid for time EVENT SEASON 2018 spent on stand-by duty. The ECJ ruled that the directive be interpreted as meaning thatMENTAL stand-by time that a worker spends near his workplace, with the duty to SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE must WORKPLACE HEALTH CHECK th th Thursday 7 June Tuesday 10 July respond to calls from his employer within eight minutes, must be regarded as working time. The EJC also highlighted that ‘working time’ is the requirement that PULLING a workerAmust be physically present when needed PRACTICE by the employer, or when a worker needs to be available to the employer to SICKIE MAKES PERFECT th th Wednesday 5 September Wednesday 17 October provide appropriate services. 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS Thursday 22nd November

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After Mr Matzak had finished his one year probation, he brought proceedings against his employer complaining that he should be paid for time spent on ‘stand-by’ duty. The ECJ highlighted that under the WTD ‘working time’ is the requirement that a worker must be physically present when needed by the employer, or when a worker needs to be available to the employer to provide appropriate services. The ECJ ruled that as Mr Matzak was required to respond to calls from his employer within eight minutes, the time he spent on ‘stand-by’ must be considered working time. This decision confirms that, when on-call, if time at home is severely impacted due to the employer’s requirements, it should be considered as working time. This case will have great impact for many employers as ‘stand-by’ time will now have to be taken into account when complying with rest periods, working hours and the National Minimum Wage.

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Employers may want to carry out an audit of the revised working hours in light of this case and check their compliance with the National Minimum Wage and holiday pay calculation. It might be that employers choose to limit restrictions on workers during on-call time to avoid National Minimum Wage issues.

We really like you Thank you to everyone who helped us raised a total of £2,311.22 for Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association across last week. Every one of you who clicked like on the Portsmouth DSA’s Facebook page or followed their Twitter profile helped us raise this money for them. The Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association are an amazing charity who help to improve the lives of children and their families, in Portsmouth and South Hampshire, by providing friendship, support and an extensive range of educational services from birth. Thousands of individuals, and schools and organisations supported the campaign this year by holding awareness days or fundraising for the charity - some people even decided to wear lots of socks to show their support! And yes, we could have just written a cheque, but the . And yes, we could have just written a cheque, but the point of this was to raise awareness too and to point of this was to raise awareness too and to get get thousands more people to engage with the brilliant work this charity does. For more information on thousands more people to engage with the brilliant work this, click HERE. this charity does. For more information on this, click HERE. We look forward to working with the charity throughout 2018, so keep your eyes peeled!

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Contact the team Sarah Whitemore (Partner) – 02380 717462 Howard Robson (Partner) – 02380 717718 Lisa Joyce (Associate) – 02380 717447 Emma Kemp (Associate) – 02380 717486 Natalie Rawson (Solicitor) – 02380 717403 DISCLAIMER While every effort is made to ensure that the contents of these diaries are up -to-date and accurate, no warranty is given to that effect and Warnergoodman does not assume responsibility for their accuracy and correctness. The diaries are provided free of charge and for information purposes only. Readers are warned that the diaries are no substitute for legal advice given after conside ration of all material facts and circumstances by an experienced employment lawyer. Therefore, reliance should not be placed upon the legal points explained in these diaries or the commentary upon them.

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