10 September 2015
We previously reported that the Advocate General in the European Court, in the case of Tyco Integrated Security SL, had suggested that where an employee has no fixed place of work, and is peripatetic, time spent travelling to the first customer of the day, and home from the last customer, would be travel time for the purposes of the Working Time Directive.
Unsurprisingly this has now been confirmed by the European Court and this interpretation will need to be followed by the UK courts and tribunals if they are asked to consider the same point.
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It is important to be aware that this is a decision on the Working Time Regulations, and will be relevant to assessing weekly working time, rest breaks etc, but it is not necessarily the case that employees will immediately have the right to be paid for such time. Interpreting the contract of employment will be crucial. This is a tricky area and you should seek expert advice.
Link to our previous article What counts as ‘working time’? posted 17 June 2015.