The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 implements what is now Parliament and Council Directive 2003/88/EC. The 1997 Act regulates minimum daily and weekly rest periods and other rests and intervals at work weekly working hours nightly working hours and annual leave and public holidays. With effect from 4 March 2019, the 1997 Act was amended by the Employment Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2018 inserting new provisions on zero-hour contracts and banded hours. The Directive and the 1997 Act have generated a considerable amount of case law on issues such as the meaning of working time the extent of an employers obligation to