Unpaid Work

[Duke916]

Hi Everyone.

I have a question which has rattled on in one form or another with my present company and previous employers.
I work in I.T im called a field service engineer, I get my calls via a pda and therefore work from home using a company vehicle to get to service calls both locally and on occasions several hundred miles away !!!

It is company policy that we work the first and last half hour of the day unpaid, this of course adds up over a years, in fact its equivelent to our holiday entitlement.

My question is, can employers do this, it seems a grey area in general, I have spoken with people in simular roles, some are docked pay some are not, any advise would be really appreciated, if possible could any respondants please post links to relevant details

Thanks again

[Sidewinder]

You say that it is company policy, so presumably this would be a term of your contract?

I would imagine that it is to help fit in with the Working Time Directive, whereby actual hours worked may not exceed 48 (unless by opt out) but for the purposes of calculation, normal travelling time to and from work is not included. As you do not have a fixed place of work it has been determined that a nominal 1 hour a day may be considered reasonable to account for the fact that some of your working day involved getting to the first job and home from the last.

[Duke916]

Hi sidewinder, thanks for the reply, no there is no mention in our contract, we work a standard 37.5 hour week, without going into details about the split shift which is over a six week period, basically over six weeks we average 37.5 hours per week, we start at 08:30hr and finish at 19:30hrs on a scheduled working day, one hour is unpaid lunch, the contension comes with starting at 08:30 when we are not paid until 9am and finishing at 19:30pm when we are only paid up until 19:00hrs, surely we start work the minute we get in the vehicle? I nor my collegues can find anything under working time directive or emplyment law regarding this unpaid work hense me posting here.

Many thanks

Duke

[an-88]

Do you always finish at 19.30, or are there days you might have a couple of short jobs near home and be back an hour or two early? Is there any allowance for that sort of thing built in?
Or are you using 19.30 as an example finish time where the last half hour of your working day is unpaid (so a 17.30 finish day is paid to 17.00)?

[an-88]

Originally Posted by Sidewinder

...but for the purposes of calculation, normal travelling time to and from work is not included. As you do not have a fixed place of work it has been determined that a nominal 1 hour a day may be considered reasonable to account for the fact that some of your working day involved getting to the first job and home from the last.

However it could be argued that in this case, since the employee has to travel to reach his clients, part of the working day that SHOULD be paid is the time taken travelling to visit clients when this is a regular part of the job.

[Duke916]

Originally Posted by an-88

Do you always finish at 19.30, or are there days you might have a couple of short jobs near home and be back an hour or two early? Is there any allowance for that sort of thing built in?
Or are you using 19.30 as an example finish time where the last half hour of your working day is unpaid (so a 17.30 finish day is paid to 17.00)?

Not sure if ive made myself clear, I am paid from 9am to 19:00pm, but actually work from 8:30am to 19:30pm becuase i work from home, im trying to establish if my employer can legally do this.

Of course i sometimes get home earlier than 19:30, but i also sometimes get home a lot later, this is all expected as a Field Service Engineer, my gripe is that we are not paid for the two half hour periods mentioned, which mounts up to a considerable time over a year.

Thanks for reply

Duke