The standard office timings are generally 9 hours. But without even knowing you are spending more than that time for your office. Confused? Let us get into detail.
To go to the office, we get up early in the morning and prepare breakfast and lunch and rush, travelling in the public trains or buses, hours together.
You are traveling to your office, not for your personal purpose right? Then why the hell, those timings task should fall on your head? How would it be if those timings are also included as a part of the ‘OFFICE timings?
The same thought had come to the Europeans and the European court had now declared that, the time spent on travelling to the office, to and fro, should also be included as the ‘OFFICE’ timings.
As of now, the judgment applies to workers without a fixed office, such as electricians, care workers, and sales representatives and will also affect many public and private sector employees across the European Union.
Declaring the judgment, the European Court of Justice said that its ruling was taken into consideration, keeping in mind, the health and safety of the employees, which is protected by the EU’s working time directive.
According to that legislation, no employee should be forced to work for more than 48 hours per week. In fact, the chances of heart stroke, basing on the number of working hours, was discussed earlier. This principle is also followed in the legislation.
Base for Travelling time is working time rule
The root for this new rule in Europe, was formed through a legal case in Spain involving Tyco, a company that installs security systems. In 2011, Tyco closed its regional offices and so the employees had to face difficulty in travelling from home to work places.
Speaking about this, the court said, “The fact that the workers begin and finish the journeys at their homes stems directly from the decision of their employer to abolish the regional offices and not from the desire of the workers themselves.”
“Requiring them to bear the burden of their employer’s choice would be contrary to the objective of protecting the safety and health of workers pursued by the directive, which includes the necessity of guaranteeing workers a minimum rest period.”
It would be better, if the same principle is followed by other countries too, as the pressure on the employees, gets reduced, as most of the employees suffer a lot, while the travelling to the office and are tensed that they might be late. If the working time rule is applied, then he/she would be cool and that coolness will reflect on the work, owning the company for its kindness towards the employees and therefore the company gives better results than before.
By Phani Ch
