Employers must pay staff for travel time European Court rules

A ruling by the European Court that travelling to jobs should qualify as paid work time has been welcomed by British unions.

The judgment ruled that staff without a fixed or a regular workplace should be paid for their travel time if they generally travel from home to and from a variety of locations. The ruling takes effect immediately.

Trade unions have welcomed the court’s ruling. They believe that it will benefit care workers and people who travel between different appointments without an office base.

A Spanish trade union had brought the case to the European Court. The case was against Tyco, which is a multinational fire and security company. Tyco had closed its regional offices in Spain in 2011.