Britain is in breach of EU working time rules by not enforcing rest break requirements for employees, European court judges ruled.
The verdict is a victory for the European Commission, which took the Government to court claiming violation of the controversial rules which set down a maximum 48-hour working week across the 25 member states.
Britain has an opt-out from maximum hours but is legally obliged to apply the daily and weekly rest break rules which the Working Time Directive also imposes.
These allow for a minimum gap of 11 hours between working days and a weekend break of one day plus 11 hours.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg decreed that the EU rules, introduced into national law in 1998, are not being applied properly, which risks breaching workers' rights.
The judges said official guidelines produced by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) advise employers they must make sure that workers "can" take their rest.
But the DTI advice does not require employers to ensure that their staff "do" take their rest.
The Commission successfully argued that the wording encouraged "a practice of non-compliance".
The ruling stated: "The (DTI) guidelines are liable to render the right of workers to daily and weekly rest periods meaningless because they do not oblige employers to ensure that workers actually take the minimum rest period, contrary to the aims of the Working Time Directive."
