Directives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Directives - Essay Example However, the Act only provides for a ten minute interval, once in four hours; and specifies a thirty – five hour week with fifteen hours of weekly overtime. Workers cannot request flexible working hours. Maria is driver for the London Underground, whose management is appointed by the Mayor of London. The expenditure incurred by it are defrayed by private enterprise and public funds, as such, it is run as a public private partnership. During the past year, Maria had worked, on an average, for fifty hours a week. She had been provided with ten minute breaks every four hours. However, her domestic commitments made it very difficult for her to cope up, and her requests for flexible working conditions had been ignored by the management. Subsequently, she became very ill, and she has obtained medical evidence that her disease was due to the stress caused by her employment. Maria’s employer, the London Underground, had been financed by public as well as private funding, and the management was appointed by the Mayor of London. Hence, this employer is an organization run by the state. Thus, Maria can invoke the Directive against her employer. The ECJ had extended the scope of the definition of state for the enforceability of council directives. In the case of Marshall, the Court ruled that individuals could invoke the rights provided by the directives. Moreover, individuals could rely on the rights that had been set out in directive for initiating legal action against a health authority. This is because a health authority is automatically an organ of the state1. The government of the United Kingdom had implemented the Directive with some changes. As such, the working hours were increased and the time of rest was reduced. With regard to compensation for damages, the ECJ made it clear in R v H.M. Treasury that individuals can claim damages