The journey to work can be quite long. Many employees now cover several kilometers a day before starting their shift. The workplace is often not even in the same town as the apartment. But how is this time remunerated? Is the travel time working time or free time? Labor law is divided, but there are indications that can clarify this question.
When driving time is also working time
First of all: If you have a fixed place of work – i.e. you always work at the same place – the travel time cannot be counted as working time. In this case, the journey from home to work and back is clearly leisure time and is therefore not remunerated.
Travel time is therefore only considered to be working time if the job requires constant travel. So if you drive from one customer to another in your job, the travel time is working time. If you have several work locations every day and drive from one to another, the travel time is also working time.
One example would be a building surveyor who has to travel from one construction site to the next to inspect and assess them. In this case, the travel times between the individual construction sites are to be counted as working time.
The issue becomes a little more complex if you set off from a fixed place of work. Let’s assume you start your working day in the office and drive to the individual locations from there. The journey from your home to the office is not working time. So it only starts there. However, if you drive directly from your home to the first customer and from the last customer back home, all journeys are part of your working time.
This also applies to business trips: If your employer dictates that you have to make journeys during the business trip, so to speak, these count as working time. The journey from the airport to the hotel by rental car is not working time.
The legal basis
In terms of labor law and legislation, the issue of driving times during work is still very vague. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that travel times between several work locations and customers are part of working time. The Federal Labor Court (BAG) has issued similar rulings. However, the law has not yet been formulated in more detail.
It is important that attention is paid to the Working Hours Act (ArbZG) in connection with the ECJ and BAG rulings. This is because: If travel time is counted as working time, care must also be taken to ensure that no more hours are worked than permitted by the ArbZG.
Exceeding the daily eight-hour shift is not permitted on a permanent basis. No more than 10 hours a day. So if there are two hours of travel time in addition to the eight hours of work, the limit is quickly reached. You have to keep an eye on that.
Inaccuracies in remuneration
Working time must be remunerated by employers. That is not a question. However, there is no agreement on the amount of remuneration for driving times. In principle, of course, you always start with the contractually agreed hourly rate. However, some employers pay less for travel time. However, the minimum wage of 12.00 euros per hour must not be undercut.
Neither labor law nor collective agreements contain precise regulations on compensation for travel times. There are also no clauses in employment contracts to define a clear line.
One thing is clear: if the remuneration for travel times is lower than for the rest of the work, this must also be taken into account in the recording of working hours. This is easy to implement with a modern system like time. A separate task can be created for the journeys, making it easy to record the time during the journeys. Once the journey is over, you simply switch to the next project or customer and continue recording the time. Everything remains clear and transparent, as required by law.
Conclusion
Travel times and working hours are a topic that has not yet been clearly regulated in labor law. However, there are already judgments that provide at least a little clarity. There is disagreement above all about the remuneration of travel times. But at least everyone gets it sorted out so that there are rarely any major legal problems. Nevertheless, a clear line on the part of the legislator would be desirable in future.
