Although a breach of the Working Time Regulations 1998 cannot lead to an injury to feelings award, compensation can reflect personal injury suffered as a consequence of the breach, according to the EAT in Grange v Abellio London Ltd.
Last year, the Court of Appeal decision in Santos Gomes v
Higher Level Care Ltd confirmed that compensation for a breach
of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (the Regulations) cannot
include compensation for injury to feelings. However, the EAT has
decided in Grange v Abellio London Ltd that the same bar
does not apply to compensation for personal injury. It upheld a
tribunal's award of £750 in relation to a failure to
provide rest breaks.
Mr Grange was a bus driver who had not been permitted to take his
entitlement to rest breaks on fourteen days over a ten week period.
Although it was agreed that he had not suffered any financial loss
because he worked a shorter day in lieu of a rest break, the
tribunal awarded him £750 to reflect the discomfort and
stress caused by the lack of a rest break in light of an underlying
medical condition. The employer appealed, arguing that working time
compensation could not include an award for personal injury, that
the employee had not produced evidence that provided a basis for
the award and that the amount was manifestly excessive in view of
the short period of the breach.
The EAT dismissed the appeal. There was nothing in the Court of
Appeal decision in Santos Gomes that excluded compensation
for personal injury suffered as a result of the breach of the rest
break provision in the Regulations. This was a low value claim in
which the employee had given evidence about his medical condition
and the effect of the absence of rest breaks on his health. It
would have been disproportionate to require medical evidence to be
produced and the tribunal had sufficient evidence to reach the
conclusion that it did.
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