EU employment ministers failed to reach a deal to amend the controversial working time directive last night potentially opening up states to future legal action.

After several hours of negotiation, a British compromise text was rejected by a majority of member states despite some progress made in areas of concern.

The negotiations foundered on the issue of the "opt out" from the 48 working week, which is currently enjoyed by Britain and a few other new member states.

French, Belgium and Sweden opposed attempts by Britain to keep its opt out intact and impose a new upper limit on a working week of up to 65 hours for some jobs.

There was also serious concerns raised about the issue of whether this working week is calculate on work contracts or actual workers.

For example some member states allow people to work for more than 48 hours per week if they have two separate contracts.

Several member states, such as Germany, opposed this situation at yesterday's meeting as completely contrary to the spirit of the new directive.

The failure to find a compromise could leave up to 20 member states, including the Republic, open to future infringement proceedings by the commission.

This could occur due to two recent judgements by the European Court of Justice, which has found that "on call" time should be paid at the full working rate.

At the council meeting yesterday member states agreed that this was an area of huge concern, particularly for the healthcare sector.

It is estimated that in Germany alone the judgements, if implemented, could require the employment of 5,000 extra doctors.

"If politicians don't shape this area of law, then we are in danger of the courts doing it for us," said Alan Johnson, the British trade and industry secretary.

The European Commission warned earlier this week that it could be forced to bring legal proceedings in the future unless the working time directive was agreed and passed into law by member states.