[Annoying] on the road again...

[NRTech]

hi guys, gals, heroes, legends, superstars, newbies, young, old, foreign and domestic. if I've missed anyone, sorry, you too! here's my conundrum; I work for a fairly well known manufacturer of shoddy bizhubs (naming no names!). I get calls sent to my breezeblock pda one-at-a-time. I get my call in the evening for the following morning. my employer expects me to be at the customers at my contracted start time of 8.45. (when I say "expects", they are regularly disappointed) my argument is that if they give me a call 50 miles from home that is their decision and the travel time to the call should be included in the working day. their argument is that if I don't get to the call until 9.45 then I'm an hour late starting work since we don't report travel time to first call because it buggers up the performance reports. we aren't allowed to report travel to first call or travel from last call. this means that my average working day is reported as about 6-7 hours, but I'm regularly working including driving 8-9 hours. I know I'm right in feeling like I'm being shafted, but what do you guys think? travel time? paid or not?

[mikadonovan]

Re: on the road again...

hi guys, gals, heroes, legends, superstars, newbies, young, old, foreign and domestic. if I've missed anyone, sorry, you too! here's my conundrum; I work for a fairly well known manufacturer of shoddy bizhubs (naming no names!). I get calls sent to my breezeblock pda one-at-a-time. I get my call in the evening for the following morning. my employer expects me to be at the customers at my contracted start time of 8.45. (when I say "expects", they are regularly disappointed) my argument is that if they give me a call 50 miles from home that is their decision and the travel time to the call should be included in the working day. their argument is that if I don't get to the call until 9.45 then I'm an hour late starting work since we don't report travel time to first call because it buggers up the performance reports. we aren't allowed to report travel to first call or travel from last call. this means that my average working day is reported as about 6-7 hours, but I'm regularly working including driving 8-9 hours. I know I'm right in feeling like I'm being shafted, but what do you guys think? travel time? paid or not?

Shafty buggers.

[Wild Bill]

Re: on the road again...

It sounds like they want you to work for free and fuck up your car with no reimbursment.
I would continue with what your doing and if they didnt pay me mielage to get to that call Id look for a new job. Cars are expensive to maintain.
Gas, Oil, Tires, service.

[harleyrider]

Re: on the road again...

I have been at this for 35 years now. Travel time has allways been included in the work day and has allways been paid to me. Youare right you are taking it deep on this one-in.

[NRTech]

they provide the car and business fuel, it's just the time that concerns me. I have regular performance reviews and the main thing that counts against my performance is work time. I'm usually at 96-98% of contracted 37 work hours per week, but this never includes the time it takes to get from to my first call, and from my last call back to my home. this would add 5-10 hours per week to my overall work time so I believe that whilst my employer has reports that show I'm not putting in the hours, I feel that I'm actually working overtime for free. I often have to travel further afield and if I don't do this on my own time it counts against my overall performance. if anyone out there works from home, do you drive to the call on your own time, or would you claim overtime for travelling to and from home? I think they're being unreasonable, but would love a bit of feedback from you guys so I know if I'm right or just a workshy layabout.

[emujo]

Re: on the road again...

I would take a close look at the employee handbook...It should cover reimbursement for travel time outside of your normal work area, although it may take some face to face time to actually get a defined "normal" work area. We don't have company cars, but my assigned territory is about 16 miles north and south. If I take a call 80 miles away then I would report mileage of 64 miles and either arrive around 9am to account for the hour of drive time or arrive on site at 8 am and add the extra hour or so to my time sheet. Some of this depends on what state you live in, in mine, they are legally obliged to pay you for anything you do work related outside your normal work hours...If I answer a work related email at 7pm then I would be able to add that amount of time to my time sheet. BTW, I'm not insane, if I was to add this type of nonsense to my time sheet they would pay me, and then write me up for working outside of normal hours w/o permission. There have been numerous lawsuits by employees to force employers to pay for all hours worked "off the clock" but it's a double edged sword, those who were fine working 9 hours today and 7 hours the next day and calling it a wash, or being OK with spending a few hours of their own time doing work related courses, etc, can't do that anymore w/o the company getting upset and worrying about getting sued again. For tax purposes, the IRS doesn't care how far your 1st call is, you can't write the mileage off going there or getting back home, so you should keep accurate records in this department. We have a manager that drives 50-60 miles each way, no reimbursement for any of it and he's required to be in the office from 8-5...nothing like adding 2 hours each day to your workday. Good luck, hope you can work something out with your boss. Emujo

[NRTech]

that's good info as always Emujo, cheers. exactly what I thought. I'm guessing the manager is office based, so if he commutes 60 miles each way from home to office that's his choice. if he wanted to he could move closer to reduce his commute but he probably likes where he lives and likes where he works so he willingly makes the regular commute. my call tomorrow could be 50 miles north of home, the day after I could be 50 miles south so I have no option to reduce my travel time by relocating, I just go whichever way I'm sent by the boss. sounds like I am right in thinking I'm getting royally screwed, which is reassuring in a way! I may seek legal advice, as these low work time statistics count against my promotion/payscale progression.

[Silvertoast]

Re: on the road again...

one way to look at this is...... if u worked in the office all day would u expect them to pay you to drive to work and drive home everyday??

the general rule of thumb at my work is if u live 20 miles from the office, subtract 20 miles from your first call, or if its less than 20 miles to your first call just start your mileage at your first call. the general idea is you would be driving that distance for free anyway if it where any other job.

as far as reimbursement for time if your agreed upon time is 8:45 then you need to be at your first call at 8:45 if its further away leave earlier. some mornings my first call is a mile up the road and i can sleep in a bit, other mornings its 60+miles away. i just wake up and leave earlier.

this is what i get out of your post. if i missed something and dont get what your argument is i apologize

[nmfaxman]

Re: on the road again...

I always reported to the office 15 minutes before I had to travel out of town to pick up a part I think it would need.
Dispatch has to log you in as office time. Then I would leave right @ 8.
You are paid for travel time and it helps the numbers.

I am glad I work for myself now.
Computers have too many loopholes for assholes to take advantage of.

[KenB]

Re: on the road again...

My work hours are 8 to 5, with a 1 hour lunch, which is mandatory.

I live 14 miles away from my office, and it's a 25 minute one-way commute.

I leave the house each day at about 7:30; earlier if the weather is crummy, no matter where I am going.

Since I am a specialist, my accounts can be 5 miles away, or 205. If it takes 3 hours to get there, it's 2.5 on company time.

At the end of the day, getting home anything later that 5:30 is overtime.

As for mileage, I report the entire day's worth, less the 28 round-trip-to-the-office miles.

My total reimbursement normally averages out to about 33 cents per mile, so I claim the 17 cent difference (the IRS allows for 50) at tax time.

That approach has served me well for many years.

[ZOOTECH]

Re: on the road again...

KenB, I think that is the fairest approach for the employees, but I'm sure the bean counters would object.

[fixthecopier]

Re: on the road again...

This thread makes me reflect on how lucky I am to work somewhere I am not tracked.

[skynetto]

Re: on the road again...

Make it x2.

I have no time table to follow and all my miles done with my car are alll refunded by the company. I can work 9 hours a day or 4 hours the next day and no one is blaming me for that as long as the customer is happy.

[JSC]

Re: on the road again...

Ok here are my thoughts on this.

I have a team of engineers that I am in charge of and I am also on the road, we should be at our 1st customer at 08:45 and all of us start from home, the 1st call could be 1 mile away or 150miles away.

If your call is near by then you should be there at 08:45 if its 150miles away then you should "aim" to get there at 9 but I'm not going to rant and rave at any engineer that leaves home at lets say 8:00 but doesn't get to his call until 9:30 because of traffic etc. As for travel home, if you close your call at 4:00 and your next call is an hour away, I'm quite happy for the engineer to go home and do the call the next day.

We operate a "don't take the piss" policy which seems to work well.

[Akitu]

Re: on the road again...

This thread makes me reflect on how lucky I am to work somewhere I am not tracked.

Second the motion. Company vehicle and a small town where everything is a 5 minute drive makes for pretty sweet times. Having the service area so large I could be driving for 4 hours before getting to my call isn't so sweet though... At least it's not my own vehicle however, the roads outside of town are among the worst in Canada.