The Court of Justice had already clarified in its judgment of 21
February 2018 (Matzak case) that a stand-by time whereby a
firefighter must stay at home in order to be present at work within
8 minutes after being called up, is working time in its
entirety.
Stand-by time at home may indeed be regarded as working time
insofar as the circumstances show that an employee is at the
disposal of his employer, without being able to make use of his
free time and that concrete modalities of availability justify
this.
How this assessment can be made and what concrete criteria must
be taken into account was clarified by the Court of Justice in two
judgments on 9 March 2021. The first (German) case concerned a
firefighter who was not obliged to be at home, but who, in the
event of a call, had to be able to reach the city boundaries within
20 minutes in his uniform and with service vehicle, although it was
permissible to deviate from the rules of the highway code. A
second
