Traveling to Work Is ‘Work,’ European Court Declares

The highest court in the European Union has ruled that the time workers without a fixed office spend traveling to and from their tasks should be regarded as time spent working and is thus billable.

The European Court of Justice said its judgment was about protecting the “health and safety” of workers as set out in the European Union’s working time directive, which “lays down regulations on matters such as how long employees work, how many breaks they have, and how much holiday they are entitled to,” BBC reported.

The ruling came about because of an ongoing legal case in Spain involving a company called Tyco, which installs security systems.

The company shut its regional offices down in 2011, resulting in employees travelling varying distances before arriving at their first appointment.

The court ruling said: “The fact that the workers begin and finish the journeys at their homes stems directly from the decision of their employer to abolish the regional offices and not from the desire of the workers themselves.

“Requiring them to bear the burden of their employer’s choice would be contrary to the objective of protecting the safety and health of workers pursued by the directive, which includes the necessity of guaranteeing workers a minimum rest period.”

Read more here.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.