Working time includes travel from home where no fixed workplace: EU judges
"Working time" in terms of the EU Working Time Directive, for workers who do not have a fixed or habitual place of work, includes time spent by those workers travelling each day between their homes and their first and last calls of the day, European judges have ruled.
The case has implications for employees such as sales representatives, care workers and service engineers whose time before their first and after their last calls of the day has not until now been regarded as "working time" by their employers.
The decision was given in a case referred to the Court of Justice in Luxembourg from the Spanish courts. It concerned employees of a Spanish company, Tyco, which installs and maintains security alarm systems. Employees were given their duties for the following day by mobile phone the night before. The distances they had to travel from home to their first assignment varied a great deal, and could be more than 100 kilometres. In one instance an employee spent more than three hours travelling due to traffic congestion.
The workers were also required to travel at least once per week to the offices of a transport logistics company near their homes to pick up equipment, parts and materials needed for their work.
Tyco regarded this travelling time as rest time and not part of the 48 hours maximum permitted weekly working time under the directive.
The court noted that the fact of the workers travelling from home stemmed from their Tyco's decisin to abolish its regional offices, but commented: "Having lost the ability to freely determine the distance between their homes and the usual place of the start and finish of their working day, they cannot be required to bear the burden of their employer’s choice to close those offices.
"Such a result would also be contrary to the objective of protecting the safety and health of workers pursued by Directive 2003/88, which includes the necessity of guaranteeing workers a minimum rest period. It would therefore be contrary to that directive if the resting time of workers without a habitual or fixed place of work were to be reduced because the time they spend travelling between home and customers was excluded from the concept of ‘working time’".
It added: "That conclusion cannot be called into question by the argument of the United Kingdom Government that it would lead to an inevitable increase in costs, in particular, for Tyco. In that regard, it suffices to point out that, even if, in the specific circumstances of the case at issue in the main proceedings, travelling time must be regarded as working time, Tyco remains free to determine the remuneration for the time spent travelling between home and customers."
Commentators have pointed out that "working time" for the purposes of the national minimum wage regulations does not include such travelling time, and these regulations are subject to EU law.