Working Time Regulations – Travel Time
A group of home care providers were ordered to pay more than £100,000 in backdated earnings, equating to around £10,000 per employee, which was the equivalent of 9 months full time work at the national minimum wage and holiday pay rates because of a tribunal claim which challenged what constituted working time under the working time regulations.
Unison, on behalf of ten employees brought a tribunal claim against three care providers for failing to pay their staff travel and waiting time between client visits. The employees would spend up to 60 minutes travelling and waiting between appointments. They were successful in their claim and the tribunal ruled that travel and waiting time of up to 60 minutes between appointments should be treated as working time.
This ruling effectively means that by including travel and wait time, the claimants’ hourly wage was significantly under the national minimum wage. This case therefore has implications for carers across the UK who may be denied full wages because their travel and waiting time is not included as working time.
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