Grab Your Pyjamas, It's Time For Work

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has just published its decision in the case of Whittlestone v BJP Home Support Ltd, which says that employees who are required to "sleep over" at a specified location in the course of their work are entitled to be paid the National Minimum Wage ("NMW") for those hours, regardless of whether their sleep is interrupted.

The need for employees to be available for "sleepovers" is commonplace within the care sector particularly.

The Claimant was employed by BJP to provide care services to service users. She was paid at a rate of £6.35 per hour for her "standard" shifts. The Claimant was also obliged to undertake sleepovers (from 11pm to 7am) for which she was paid a £40 allowance. There was no evidence that the Claimant ever had to attend to service users during the night.