Most adult workers are entitled to a minimum 20 minute daily rest breaks under the Working Time Regulations, which derive from the Directive. For most employees, such daily rest breaks will mean a lunch break of at least 20-30 minutes. But does the worker have to request such a break to be 'refused' or denied their right to a break? Not according to the EAT in this case.

Prior to July 2012, the Claimant had an eight and a half hour working day, paid for eight hours, with the intention that he take a half hour unpaid lunch break (although the nature of his work meant that this could be difficult to fit into the working day).  On 16 July 2012, the Respondent emailed the Claimant expressing its expectation (at best) or instruction (at worst) that he was to work straight through for eight hours, without the half hour break, but then to leave earlier than he would have done before.  In July 2014, the Claimant lodged a grievance complaining that he had been forced to work without a break, which had contributed to a decline in his health.

The original tribunal held that held that there had to be an actual refusal of a request to exercise the right to a rest break in order to give rise to a legal liability under the Regulations, as per the findings in EAT in Miles v Linkage Community Trust Ltd [2008] IRLR 602. Not so, according to the EAT - there were conflicting decisions of the EAT on the approach to be taken to rights to rest under the Regulations.

The EAT in this case looked at the case of MacCartney v Oversley House Management [2006] IRLR 514 (where the method of working ensured the employee could not take breaks, which amounted to refusal) and has said that another well-known case of Scottish Ambulance Service v Truslove UKEATS/0028/11 was to be preferred to that in Miles - an employer must take active steps to ensure workers can take rest breaks during their working day, although they cannot force employees to take the rest:

"... the employer has an obligation (“duty”) to afford the worker the entitlement to take a rest break (paragraph 32 Truslove).  That entitlement will be “refused” by the employer if it puts into place working arrangements that fail to allow the taking of 20 minute rest breaks (MacCartney).  If, however, the employer has taken active steps to ensure working arrangements that enable the worker to take the requisite rest break, it will have met the obligation upon it: workers cannot be forced to take the rest breaks but they are to be positively enabled to do so."
http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT/2016/0130_16_1611.html