NMWM08400 - Working time: output work: travelling time
Relevant legislation
General
“Home to work” travel
Travelling in connection with training
Consideration of travelling time
Relevant legislation
The legislation that applies to this page is as follows:
- National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, regulations 19(1)(b), 20 & 39
General
For a worker performing output work, the time when a worker is travelling for the purpose of working (i.e. in connection with the employment) is treated as working time.
Travelling for the purpose of working for National Minimum Wage purposes includes the time a worker spends travelling between “assignments” which need to be carried out at different places to which the worker is obliged to travel.
“Home to work” travel
For National Minimum Wage purposes, the travelling between a worker’s place of residence (including temporary residence) and the place of their work is not considered as travelling for the purposes of work.
However, in the case of output work, time spent on “home to work” travel is treated as working time if the journey is in respect of reporting to the employer on output produced at home.
Travelling in connection with training
Travelling for the purpose of working for National Minimum Wage purposes includes the time a worker spends travelling between a place of work and a place where training is being provided. For output work purposes, it is reasonable for a NMW Officer to consider the worker’s home as a place of work if that is where output is produced.
Consideration of travelling time
When considering travelling time for National Minimum Wage purposes it is necessary to identify the time the worker spends travelling for the purpose of working. A primary consideration will be whether such travelling is in connection with the employment. The mode of transport is not a consideration, so a NMW Officer will not accept a suggestion by an employer that a worker’s travelling time should be adjusted as if they took an alternate mode of transport or different route to what actually occurred. Neither is it persuasive for an employer to identify travelling times based on optimal travelling conditions, such as computer calculated planned routes where such routes do not represent the actual circumstances of the travelling, such as distance, weather conditions or traffic delays.
It is appropriate to identify any time where the worker interrupts travelling in order take a break (NMWM08420). Time when a break is taken during the course of a journey will not be included as travelling time nor treated as working time. However, it should be noted that periods of waiting during travelling, such as queuing traffic, waiting for transport connections, etc. are likely to be treated as hours worked and not automatically assumed to be time when a break is being taken.