# employer not obliged to pay travel time?



## The Bouncer (28 Mar 2008)

I work on customer premises so if I leave a site at 5.30 and it takes me 2 hours to get home my employer tells me tough no pay for that is that legal? I though travel time was part of wotking hours and employer must either pay or give time in lieu?


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## BountyHunter (28 Mar 2008)

I'm no expert but I seriously doubt that any employer would agree or be expected to agree that time travelling to work is part of your normal working day, except if you were some kind of service engineer where you would be expected to travel to various premises to do your work. For example if what you suggested was correct I'm sure the unfortumate individuals stuck travelling for hours on the M50 wouldnt feel so bad about it? I think you need to get real bud!
The reality is that if you need to travel 2 hours to get to work thats up to you, you could look for work closer to where you live or move closer to where you work.
What does your contract of employment state?


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## peno (28 Mar 2008)

BountyHunter said:


> I'm no expert but I seriously doubt that any employer would agree or be expected to agree that time travelling to work is part of your normal working day, except if you were some kind of service engineer where you would be expected to travel to various premises to do your work.
> 
> The reality is that if you need to travel 2 hours to get to work thats up to you, you could look for work closer to where you live or move closer to where you work.
> What does your contract of employment state?



I think the issue is that his place of work changes depending on his customer so unless he has a caravan it is difficult to constantly live nearby his constantly changing place of work


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## Mpsox (28 Mar 2008)

It;s difficult to answer this without having the full facts.

If the customer location is a permanent work location, and the OP will always be working there and has always worked there, it's unlikely that any payment will be due

If the location is not the normal place of work and varies from time to time, you may not be entitled to be paid but may be entitled to a mileage allowance.

A lot wmay also depend on your contract of employment, does it specify where your place of work is meant to be


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## ailbhe (28 Mar 2008)

not sure about the legalities but I had to work in a different office (an hours drive) for 3 months due to staffing issues. We arranged that they accepted I would be late by half an hour, take a half hour lunch and leave an hour earlier. Also was paid mileage. 
We split the difference of the travel time (my day was one hour longer but my workin day was one hour shorter). This may have just been because they needed me but I do think it is unfair to expect you to extend your day by 4 hours without some sort of leeway/compensation. 
But I don't know if they are legally obliged to do this.


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## harriet (28 Mar 2008)

Employer not obliged to pay for travel time and would seriuosly doubt that they are obliged to give time in lieu


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## purpeller (28 Mar 2008)

Does it say anything in your contract about working out of the office on a regular basis?  I used to work in an accountants' office and the contract had a standard clause about working offsite for audits, etc and I don't remember it having a compensation aspect but I think some provision was made in terms of what time people had to be at the customer's place...


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## Orga (28 Mar 2008)

There are 2 separate issues here:

1. Should a person be compensated for travel time
Yes, if it is part of contract and yes usually ifthe place of work varies. The compensation is normally in the form of a milage allowance or company car and fuel card.

2. The more interesting point, to my mind, is should travel time be included within working hours for someone whose place of work varies and equally if you are away from home due to work say for overnights should this be included in the time worked. If so, is there a right to time in lieu or payment for these hours. These scenarios are a quagmire, there is no hard and fast rule, each case is taken on established practice in the area and can vary from company to company - do I hear cries for legislation from the wings?


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## The Bouncer (28 Mar 2008)

BountyHunter said:


> I'm no expert but I seriously doubt that any employer would agree or be expected to agree that time travelling to work is part of your normal working day, except if you were some kind of service engineer where you would be expected to travel to various premises to do your work.


 
This is precisley my situation every other firm I worked for paid this

B


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## BountyHunter (28 Mar 2008)

Well I know a guy who used to work as a service engineer and he got a certain amount of travel time each week, I used to work for a company where i used to travel to install some equipment and got a mileage allownace, think it was 70p a mile (pre euro).
Again it all depends on what your contract states, are you a door supervisor?


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## Complainer (29 Mar 2008)

ailbhe said:


> not sure about the legalities but I had to work in a different office (an hours drive) for 3 months due to staffing issues. [...] Also was paid mileage.


Did you (or the boss) get agreement from Revenue that the mileage would not be taxed in these circumstances?


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## aircobra19 (29 Mar 2008)

The Bouncer said:


> This is precisley my situation every other firm I worked for paid this
> 
> B



You assumed everyone does. Don't assume.


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## BountyHunter (29 Mar 2008)

Complainer said:


> Did you (or the boss) get agreement from Revenue that the mileage would not be taxed in these circumstances?


.

I was under the impression that mileage was never taxed...


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## Complainer (29 Mar 2008)

BountyHunter said:


> .
> 
> I was under the impression that mileage was never taxed...


Generally it's not. However, Revenue don't generally allow untaxed mileage payments for mileage between home and your place of work.


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