European Court Rules, Travelling to Work 'Is Work'

A new European Court of Justice decision, which means travelling to appointments from home should form part of a person's working day for workers without a fixed office has been welcomed this week by those employed as care workers, gas fitters and sales reps. Travelling time to first and last appointments in the day has not previously been considered as work by many employers.

It means firms employing these types of workers may be in breach of EU working time regulations. The directive is designed to protect workers from exploitation by employers, and it lays down regulations on matters such as how long employees work, how many breaks they have, and how much holiday they are entitled to.

Commenting on this ruling in an interview with the BBC Chris Tutton, from the solicitors Irwin Mitchell said "Thousands of employers may now potentially be in breach of working time regulation rules in the UK."

The court said its judgement was about protecting the "health and safety" of workers as set out in the European Union's working time directive. One of its main goals is to ensure that no employee in the EU is obliged to work more than an average of 48 hours a week.

The ruling came about because of an ongoing legal case in Spain involving a company called Tyco, which installs security systems. On hearing the ruling the union Unison said it hoped it might result in a raise in pay for people in the UK working in such roles.

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