Ville de Nivelles v Rudy Matzak [2017]

This case was a reference to the Advocate General by the Belgian National Courts. The Court was asked for guidance on whether 'working time' per Directive 2003/88/EC includes situations where workers are required, on a rota basis, to be on stand-by within a specified radius of their workplace.

The worker, a firefighter in this case, was required under his terms of engagement to be available and on call for work one week in every four, including evenings and weekends. During these stand-by periods he had to remain contactable and, when required, report to the fire station within eight minutes. In practice, this meant the worker must reside near the station and his activities were restricted