travelling to work is work!

[banginbishop]

Taken from the telegraph media site

Time spent by tradesmen driving to first job of the day counts as work, European Court of Justice rules, as British government warns costs to business will increase

Time spent by plumbers, decorators and carers driving to their first customer of the day counts towards the 48-hour working week, a European court has ruled, in a decision the government admits will drive up costs for businesses.


Under the EU Working Time Directive, British employees cannot work more than 48 hours in a week unless they choose to opt out.

The court ruling contradicts that. Judges in Luxembourg adjudicated in a case brought by workers at Tyco, a Spanish company that installs burglar alarms.

[Lagonda]

Re: travelling to work is work!

OK, so its now official, while your sitting in that traffic jam on your way to your first job you're at work. So don't just sit there do something useful! Do a stock take of your spare parts, catch up on your paperwork make or work related phone calls because now the boss will want to know that your not wasting company time!

[blackcat4866]

Re: travelling to work is work!

OK, so its now official, while your sitting in that traffic jam on your way to your first job you're at work. So don't just sit there do something useful! Do a stock take of your spare parts, catch up on your paperwork make or work related phone calls because now the boss will want to know that your not wasting company time!

I use that time in traffic to beat myself up over that damn finisher that I can't seem to fix. That, and to provide information readily available in manuals. =^..^=

[KenB]

Re: travelling to work is work!

OK, so its now official, while your sitting in that traffic jam on your way to your first job you're at work. So don't just sit there do something useful! Do a stock take of your spare parts, catch up on your paperwork make or work related phone calls because now the boss will want to know that your not wasting company time!

Don'tcha think all that may be considered distracted driving?

Nobody can force you to take that type of risk.

I fear that topic alone could open up a whole new can of worms.

[Lagonda]

Re: travelling to work is work!

Don'tcha think all that may be considered distracted driving?

I think you missed "while sitting in a traffic jam" in my first post. You must be one of those lucky guys Ken that works in the country and is not really sure what a traffic light looks like

[JR2ALTA]

Re: travelling to work is work!

The judge was right but over did it a little

It's very simple. There are two determinates: Time and Distance.

If it takes you 10 miles to get to the OFFICE and your first call is 15 miles from your house. You get paid for 5 miles.

Likewise, if it takes you 10 minutes to get to your office and your first call is 15 minutes from your house you clock in plus 5 minutes.

My company is generous in that if your first call is less than 10 miles you can start your daily mileage at that point.

Most companies would just have you subtract 20 miles (total commute) from you daily "garage-to-garage" total.

[KenB]

Re: travelling to work is work!

I think you missed "while sitting in a traffic jam" in my first post. You must be one of those lucky guys Ken that works in the country and is not really sure what a traffic light looks like

All I am saying is to stay safe, and don't take risks. It's just not worth it.

It's even covered in our employee handbook. If you cause an accident because you are otherwise "occupied", you can be terminated for it. That can happen in the city or a lonely country road.

And I spend more time in downtown Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh than I care to admit. No, none are as bad as New York City, Boston, or Chicago, but they're bad enough.

[KenB]

Re: travelling to work is work!

The entire topic of how we are compensated for travel, in both time and money, is a favorite sore subject.

I think we can all agree on that.

[subaro]

Re: travelling to work is work!

Driving and multitasking can become expensive. see the attachment and check the date. have to agree with kenb

[banginbishop]

Re: travelling to work is work!

Thankfully I work for a company that won't be expecting the 'do more while you're stuck in traffic' attitude. We have trackers on the car so it's not a problem justifying your time spent on the road & they never check them anyway!

What it does mean is, I like a lot of engineers pick parts up before our 1st call and then get to our 1st call at say 8.30 but it's not accepted as work time because we're not on the customers premises! Well now it is classed as work time and so you have to factor those times in. No more 1 hour drives to a call 1st or last call journeys without consideration to the time scale.

however if you're wise you will be flexible in your work attitude by give & take e.g don't expect to finish early if you refuse to leave that little bit early to get to a call at 8.30. I'm contracted till 5pm but very rarely finish at 5 but always start at 30-60 mins before I'm due to start work in the morning - it's called being flexible.

[theengel]

Re: travelling to work is work!

The whole thing is what finally tipped me over the edge when I was trying to decide whether to find employment or start my own thing. When I got a job offer from a company who subtracted 20 miles from the daily traveling expenses, I said, "Screw that."

[fixthecopier]

Re: travelling to work is work!

No way this could go bad



For the older techs, frequent bathroom stops can be costly and time consuming...

[allan]

Re: travelling to work is work!

If I go to the office in the morning its on my account. But if I go to customers from home is a company expense. Even if i leave to go to home from the office its on me.

[theengel]

Re: travelling to work is work!

If I go to the office in the morning its on my account. But if I go to customers from home is a company expense. Even if i leave to go to home from the office its on me.

For a long time, I think that's how it was with most companies... here in the US anyway. Not really sure when that changed. I think as they tried to wholesale the repair industry, it was an easy way for companies to cut costs.