This article was written by Verushka Reddy, a Director and Erwyn Durman, a Candidate Attorney at Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa

Employers and employees should be aware of the following twelve main principles in relation to rest breaks at work.

       Rest Breaks

  1. Rest breaks are regulated by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997. The

French regulations strictly supervise employees’ working time, which may not exceed a certain limit and must include break time and minimum rest periods. Not only must the employer comply with these obligations, but in the event of litigation, the employer must be in a position to produce evidence that it has done so.

Each employee

This post was also contributed by Sebastian Kutzner, Trainee, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP (Munich).

Due to increasing demands for a work life balance, uncertainty as to employees’ rights to rest periods, in particular, is widespread. German law distinguishes between two types of rest periods:

  • Rest breaks (to be granted during working time); and
  • Resting time

Article 167 of the Labor Colombian Code, establishes that “working hours during a work day, must be distributed in two sections, with at least one break or intermediate period, that rationally suit the nature of the work and the employee’s needs. Such resting time is not part of the working day”.

In this sense, Colombian

The Working Time Regulations 1998 (the Regulations), which implement the requirements of the 1993 EC Working Time Directive, introduced restrictions on the number of hours worked by employees and workers together with a right to rest breaks, rest periods and holidays. This post is concerned with the right to rest breaks during the working day.