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Federacion de Servicios Privados del sindicato Comisiones obreras v Tyco Integrated Security SL
The European Court of Justice (“CJEU”) has found that, in the case of mobile workers, time spent travelling from home to customers' premises is to be regarded as 'working time' for the purposes of the Working Time Directive (“the Directive”).
Tyco employs technicians who install and maintain security equipment at customers' premises in Spain. The technicians have the use of a company vehicle in which they travel every day from their own homes to the locations they are instructed to install the equipment, sometimes of distances surpassing 100km. They are not required to travel to an office or central location except for the occasional trip to collect tools and materials and Tyco makes contact with them by mobile phone to issue them with working instructions.
Tyco argued that the technicians' travelling time was a "rest period" rather than working time because they were not carrying out any installations or maintenance during those periods. Tyco also claimed that because the technicians' are able to choose which route(s) to take during their travelling time, this puts them outside of the boundaries of the Directive. The CJEU disagreed with both arguments and concluded that travelling time was not used freely for the technicians’ own interests. Therefore, because the technicians were "at the disposal" of Tyco, their travelling time was held to be covered by the Directive.
In Practice
After the UK Government’s contention that this conclusion would lead to an inevitable increase in costs for employers, it will be interesting to see what remuneration amendments are made by employers in reaction to the judgement. Employment Associate Paul Burton says, "It may now be the case that employers have to organise work schedules to ensure that workers first and last appointments are close to their homes."
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.
