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Travelling to and from work (mobile workers)
[ch 4: page 122]Time spent travelling to and from the first and last appointment of the day for a mobile worker with a daily schedule of appointments will normally be working time. This is because while travelling, the mobile worker is at the disposal of the employer, carrying out the employer’s activities and working (regulation 2(1), WTR):
A group of Spanish technicians worked installing equipment at different customers’ premises. They had no fixed place of work. Instead, they were given a daily appointment schedule and used a company vehicle to travel from their homes to each customer, sometimes 100 kilometres away. The engineers argued that they were working during the first and last journey of the day, but the employer argued that this travel time was a “rest period”. The ECJ disagreed, emphasising the health and safety purpose of the Working Time Directive. The employer also argued that the travel time could not be working time because the engineers were free to decide their route, but the ECJ disagreed, pointing out that the travel time could not be shortened or used by the technicians for their own purposes. It was working time. The rate of pay for this travel time can be decided under the contract of employment, said the ECJ, subject to the obligation to pay any statutory minimum wage.
Federacion de Servicios Privados del sindicato Comisiones obreras v Tyco Integrated Security SL [2015] EUECJ C-266/14