European Court of Justice rules travelling as working time

Time spent travelling to and from first and last appointments by workers without a fixed office should be regarded as working time.

Many employees had not previously considered this time as work. This means that firms including those who employ staff to travel to and from work without a fixed office may be in breach of EU working time regulations.

According to 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.”

An analysis from The National Trade Union Centre (TUC), has shown the number of people working excessive hours has risen by 15 percent since 2010. The number of employees working more than 48 hours per week has reached 3,417,000 – up by 453,000 since 2010.

The court’s judgement hopes to protect the workers within the European Union and stop exploitation by employers. Currently, no employee is obliged to work more than an average of 48 hours per week in the EU.