Travel time = work time = pay?

The Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal ruled on Feb. 7, 2017, on an interesting case concerning the travel time and working hours of "mobile workers," who do not have a fixed place of employment as their work location.

The employee in question, employed by Connexxion, claimed from his employer continued payment for his travel time because he argued that the travel time should be considered as working time. Case law from the Court of Justice (including the 2001 Skills ruling and the 2015 Tyco ruling) confirmed the employee's contention that the travel time should have counted as working time.

Right to reimbursement for travel time

So did that automatically mean that the employee was entitled to compensation for that travel time? 'Yes' said the district judge at first instance. 'No' said the appellate court - rightly so, in my opinion. There must always be a separate contractual basis for compensation for travel time.

The case offers nice points of view for answering the questions of how to deal with the travel time of mobile employees and when they can claim compensation for that travel time. See the ruling and annotation below.

Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal February 7, 2017, ECLI:NL:GHARL:2017:872 (JAR 2017/105, mt. nt. A.W. Niebeek)