The end of the weekly rest period on the seventh day?

Francisco Liberal Fernandes

Keywords

weekly rest; shift work; directive 2003/88; Article 5; direct effectiveness; reference period.

Abstract

The monologue that is reproduced has in its genesis two sentences related to the imperfect problem of the enjoyment of weekly rest at shift work: the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union, of 9-11-2017 (Maio Marques da Rosa, case C - 306/16), and the Supreme Court of Justice, of 14-11-2018 (case 1181/15.4T8MTS.P1.S1). The fact that the issue in question was decided on the basis of rules of general scope (respectively, Article 5, first part, of the Directive 2003/88, concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time, and Article 232, paragraph 1, of the Labour Code) has given to give these decisions an innovative dimension, potentially disruptive in the social and legal sphere, if it is under-stood that the normativity of the first sentence is directly extendable to the com-mon of labour contracts.
The final conclusion is that the Portuguese labour system enshrines the weekly rest rule on the seventh day, allowing for the possibility of derogations for a limited set of activities; however, in relation to these, the application of this regime depends on provision in terms of collective labour regulation instruments.