BX v Unitatea Administrativ Teritorială D.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered a ruling that time spent in vocational training at the premises of a training services provider, at the employer’s request and outside the employee’s usual working hours, must be regarded as working time.

In this case, BX, an employee of the administration of the municipality of D. brought proceedings against the municipality seeking, inter alia, an order that the municipality pay 124 hours of vocational training as overtime. This overtime had been accrued as part of BX’s vocational training that he had been requested to undertake by his employer.

The CJEU’s conclusions were as follows:

Article 2(1) of Directive 2003/88/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time must be interpreted as meaning that the period during which a worker attends vocational training required by his or her employer, which takes place away from his or her usual place of work, at the premises of the training services provider, during which he or she does not perform his or her normal duties, constitutes ‘working time’ within the meaning of that provision.