The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Thursday, July 15, issued a judgment that could deeply question the organization of a certain number of services within the armed forces. A decision relating to the working time of the military, feared for many months by all the staffs, and which has everything of a small bomb, on the eve of the six weeks of annual judicial vacation of the European court.
In a judgment unveiled Thursday, which is part of a dispute initially opposing a Slovenian non-commissioned officer to his hierarchy for the payment of guard tours dating from 2014, the CJEU considered that the “On-call activities” exercised by a soldier could in part fall under the European directive on working time. A directive which dates from 2003 and governs the health and safety of workers in the EU.
As often in the judgments of the CJEU, it is necessary to read backwards. Strictly speaking, the court chose to consider that, in general, “A guard activity carried out by a soldier” was good “Excluded from the scope” of the 2003 directive. But she decided to put up a number of limitations. And it is on the latter that France finds itself today caught in the back, despite all a plea developed in recent months with the CJEU and in the media through a number of personalities in an attempt to limit the chopping effect of this eagerly awaited judgment.
Exceptions
Overall, on-call activities are thus excluded from the scope of the working time directive, if they fall within the scope of “Initial training”, of “Training” or if they take place in ” surgery “, decided the CJEU. The same conditions will apply if these guards take place “In the context of exceptional events” particularly serious, or that the reorganization they imply in view of the judgment of July 15 is likely to be “To the detriment” operations. But there will be several exceptions to these great principles.
In the eyes of the CJEU, the working time directive should apply to services related to “Administration, maintenance, repair, health”, or to ” preserve the order ” and to “Prosecution of offenses”. These “Activities cannot be excluded in their entirety”, insists the court. These exceptions could therefore directly affect many support services, the army health service or the gendarmerie, in particular through the management of rotations of mobile gendarmes or the missions of the provost.
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