What is the legal development?
The recent European case on travelling time is perhaps less straightforward than some of the media reports suggest.
This case establishes that for workers who are not assigned to a fixed place of work, the time spent travelling from their home to their first assignment and from their last assignment back to their home, should constitute working time. However, the Court also accepted that the employer could freely determine the rate of pay for this travel time.
Therefore, whether employers have to actually pay for the travel time depends upon whether there is any agreement in place (collective or individual terms) covering it. If not, then no pay may be due as in the UK the right to receive a minimum wage is based on UK not European legislation. Our national minimum wage legislation expressly excludes time spent travelling between the home and the workplace from the time which is eligible for the minimum wage.
What does this mean in practice for employers?
This case will impact the calculation of working time for the purpose of calculating rest breaks, working week etc, but not necessarily overall pay, unless the travel time is caught by a contractual obligation to pay for it.
Our comment
Some employers may wish to clearly define this travel time as non paid time (like lunch breaks) to avoid confusion. Others, who have already or are considering committing to the voluntary Living Wage, may now feel obliged to include this travel time within paid hours as a matter of principle. Food for thought for all businesses, whether values driven or not…