The ruling in Tyco and an Employees Travel Time to Work

The recent ruling by the ECJ in the case of Federación de Servicios Privados del Sindicato Comisiones Obreras v Tyco Integrated Security SL and Tyco Integrated Fire & Security Corporation Servicios SA (Case C-266/14) [2015] All ER (D) 55 (Sep) determined that the employees travel time to work count as part of their working hours. This decision will likely affect those who provide employees for client visits and is estimated to affect up to 1 million companies in the UK alone.

The ECJ considered where an employee travelled for their employment that this would form part of their ‘working time’. This was on the basis the employees were working by travelling to and from their jobs as part of their employment. Further, during this time the employees were at the employer’s disposal and these journeys were solely for the employee to carry out their duties required by their employment.

UK Employers will need to consider, where they employ employees with no fixed or habitual place of work, what changes need to be made in order to comply with Tyco. Most UK employers do not currently include journeys by mobile workers as part of their working hours. Accordingly, careful consideration will need to be made to ensure EU Working Time Directive on an employee’s maximum work hours of 48 hours per week is not breached.

Employers will need to consider if their employees are affected by Tyco and may have to seek to negotiate opt-outs with those employees who will exceed the 48 hour threshold. Employers should also consider whether appointments can be allocated in a way that allows an employee’s first and last appointments to be located close to their homes. Employers will also need to monitor affected employees to ensure their travel time is being solely used for employment purposes.

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