Brussels, 10/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - In a judgment (case C-266/14) returned on Thursday 10 September, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that the time spent by workers without a fixed or habitual place of work between their homes and the site of the first and last customer of the day constitutes working time.
Advocate General Yves Bot reached the same conclusion (see EUROPE 11334) in this case, which concerns a Spanish company which calculated its employees' working time on the basis of the time from their arrival at the premises of the first customer and their departure from the premises of the last customer. 'Home-customer' travel time, which could be as much as three hours, for instance, was deemed a “rest period”.
The Court, on the basis of directive 2003/88/EC regarding certain aspects of working time arrangements, found that workers carrying out such journeys are nonetheless in a situation in which they are doing their jobs or responsibilities. This travel is a necessary instrument for them to allow to carry out their professional technical services at the customers' premises, which means that it is part of their work. Furthermore, the workers have no choice but to make these journeys, as they are at the employer's disposal. They cannot, therefore, dispose of their time freely, particularly as appointments made with the customers can be changed at any time at the employer's wish. (Jan Kordys)