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The Advocate General at the European Court of Justice has suggested the time that workers, who are not assigned to a fixed or habitual place of work, spend travelling from home to their first customer, and from the last customer back to their homes, counts as 'working time' for the purposes of the Working Time Directive.
According to the Advocate General, there are three aspects to 'working time': being (1) at the workplace, (2) at the disposal of the employer, (3) engaged in work duties.
In this case aspect (1) was fulfilled because travelling was an integral part of the job, such that the workplace could not only be considered as performing work at clients' premises; aspect (2) was fulfilled because routes and destinations were determined by the employer who could at any point modify the instruction; and aspect (3) was fulfilled because, again, travelling was integral to the work.
The Advocate General saw no distinction in travel between jobs, which was agreed to be working time, and to and from the first and last jobs, which was not.
In Practice
The recommendation of the Advocate General is not binding, but it is usually followed by the European Court of Justice. If it is, then this case could affect many workers, particularly in the care sector, in the UK. Employment Associate Paul Burton says, "Many employers currently only start paying when the worker reached the first client and often the first journey is a long one. Employers doing this may find workers claiming 1 or 2 hours extra a day to be paid which may be a considerable cost that is not currently in place."
At Frettens, all of our solicitors offer a free initial meeting or chat on the phone to answer your questions. If this article raises issues for you or your business, please call us on 01202 499255 and Kate or Paul will be happy to discuss it with you.
