Delimiting working time from rest time in the case of workers residing at the workplace

The article presents the particular problems encountered in the process of delimiting working time from rest time in the case of workers who, due to the specific nature of their work and its organization, imposed by the employer, reside at the workplace, in which casethe question arises whether and under what conditions, the inactive periods spent by workers in their own residence may be included in working time. In order to identify these issues and possible solutions, the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union is analyzed in order to establish principles applicable in this situation, as well as the national jurisprudence of Romania and that of other EU Member States, which is relevant in view of the common regulation of working time for all those States by Directive 2003/88.The practical implications of these issues are important from the perspective of the employer's obligation to respect the maximum weekly working time. In the presented conclusions, some criteria for the delimitation of working time from the rest time in this case are proposed, namely certain conditions, the fulfillment of which must be checked on a case-by-case basis.