Business Travel

[Guest]

Hello all - this is my first post here so excuse me if you need further information before assisting with my query. I am employed by a company with offices all over the UK with contracted hours of 9-5:30 Mon-Fri. However, my contract is as a Manchester employee for the Manchester office only. I have been asked to attend a meeting in another office that requires me to get a train. The meeting has been agreed without my involvement for a 9am start which would necessitate me catching a train from Manchester at 7am which I feel is too early to be reasonable. With the location of the meeting not being my usual place of work am I within my rights to refuse/ask for the meeting to be moved to a later time? As I understand it, any travel to anywhere other than the address of the office that employs me would be classified as working time therefore meaning I would either be able to 1) not leave home until 9am or, receive the time I spend travelling back as leave. My contract doesn't include anything about travelling to other offices however my employer is stating that their request is reasonable. I would really appreciate some guidance here. Many thanks.

[Eloise01]

Re: Business Travel

No you aren't within your rights to tell your employer when and where to hold meetings. Employment sometimes requires flexibility - for some employees it requires a lot of it.

How long have you worked for this employer, because I have a feeling I might be able to guess the answer?

And have you actually asked the employer about the travelling time?

[Guest]

Re: Business Travel

Thanks for your reply. Been here about 8 weeks. If the meeting requires my attendance should I not have been consulted. I have suggested that the timing is a bit early but have been advised that this is "how it is" and there are no mechanisms for my to recoup this unpaid travel time back. Given my job description/contract contain no mention of travel I was just keen to explore how reasonable a request it is to ask me to start work 2 hours earlier for no additional pay/time off in lieu. Thanks again.

[Sapphire]

Re: Business Travel

Your not starting work 2 hours early, you're times are 9-5.30, the meeting has been scheduled for 9am, which is your start time, however long it takes you to travel to work is not the concern of the employer.

[Guest]

Re: Business Travel

Even though I applied and was appointed for a role based in Manchester and travel was never mentioned? My employer will only pay for travel equivalent to the cost from "my" office to the meeting as opposed to from my home address to the meeting. These two things seem to be at odds with eachother.

[Sapphire]

Re: Business Travel

Even though I applied and was appointed for a role based in Manchester and travel was never mentioned? My employer will only pay for travel equivalent to the cost from "my" office to the meeting as opposed to from my home address to the meeting. These two things seem to be at odds with each other.

Being paid the travel expenses from your place of work to the meeting is usual, as I'm sure that Eloise will confirm.

[Guest]

Re: Business Travel

OK - thanks for the informative and concise replies, Sapphire. Have a nice evening.

[Sapphire]

Re: Business Travel

And you too, sorry it wasn't better news.

[Eloise01]

Re: Business Travel

I strongly urge you to discuss (and I mean discuss!) this with your employer. You have been there 8 weeks. If you wish to make it to 9 weeks you need to be considerably careful about how you approach things - because your employer can dismiss you for almost any reason for the next year and ten months (give or take a week). The issue of travel from one office to the other is quite reasonable - they wouldn't normally pay for you to get to the office, so they are simply asking you to get to the starting point, as you would have had to do if the meeting was in your office. With regards to the travel time, the employer is on slightly less sure grounds, because travelling time when an employee is required to travel as part of their work may be counted as part of the working day. But at 8 weeks into the job do you really think it wise to start quoting the law at the employer? If this is going to be a regular requirement, then perhaps you ccan find a reasonable way of discussing this and coming to some sort of agreement. If it isn't, then for the sake of not rocking the boat, it may be wiser to suck it up, because you aren't in a strong position.

[Guest]

Re: Business Travel

I strongly urge you to discuss (and I mean discuss!) this with your employer. You have been there 8 weeks. If you wish to make it to 9 weeks you need to be considerably careful about how you approach things - because your employer can dismiss you for almost any reason for the next year and ten months (give or take a week). The issue of travel from one office to the other is quite reasonable - they wouldn't normally pay for you to get to the office, so they are simply asking you to get to the starting point, as you would have had to do if the meeting was in your office. With regards to the travel time, the employer is on slightly less sure grounds, because travelling time when an employee is required to travel as part of their work may be counted as part of the working day. But at 8 weeks into the job do you really think it wise to start quoting the law at the employer? If this is going to be a regular requirement, then perhaps you ccan find a reasonable way of discussing this and coming to some sort of agreement. If it isn't, then for the sake of not rocking the boat, it may be wiser to suck it up, because you aren't in a strong position.

Thanks for this, Eloise. I fully intend to discuss amicably with my employer in the first instance. It would just give me some confidence to know the legal background. You mention in certain instances that business travel could be classed as working time. Could you please direct me to any supplementary information you have regarding such instances so I can have a read through and develop my understanding further. Also, as a side note, within my contract is an opt-out for the working time regulations. My employer wants me to sign this. I've not asked either way but they said it would be viewed as "unusual" if I choose not to sign it. Am I obliged to do this? Obviously, I totally understand that if I don't they can pretty much get rid of me without me having much recourse so I'll probably end up signing it and opting out at a later date. Many thanks again for your assistance thus far.

[Eloise01]

Re: Business Travel

Oh well. I doubt this is going to end well, but the working time regulations are what you are looking for. That applies to both issues you raise. You do not have to sign the opt out.

I strongly suggest that you start looking for another job. You are eight weeks in and this one obviously doesn't suit you. Which is fair enough, but the chances of you surviving that next 22 months seems rather remote.

[Guest]

Re: Business Travel

Oh well. I doubt this is going to end well, but the working time regulations are what you are looking for. That applies to both issues you raise. You do not have to sign the opt out.

I strongly suggest that you start looking for another job. You are eight weeks in and this one obviously doesn't suit you. Which is fair enough, but the chances of you surviving that next 22 months seems rather remote.

Hi Eloise - many thanks again for your reply. I agree, this doesn't look like the role for me unless something changes. The annoying aspect is that all of this was discussed prior to me being offered the role (in the interest of being open & honest) and I was advised that there would be no issue as I have personal commitments that require me to be at home at certain times - namely childcare as I am a single parent. Working full-time is always going to be a case of juggling priorities in this situation, I guess. Many thanks.

[Sapphire]

Re: Business Travel

Paradiddle please have a chat with your bosses, explain to them your concerns re childcare issues and ask if the meetings in future can be made at a more accessible time, there is nothing wrong with asking, you might be surprised, they might accommodate your request, as they say 'he who dare's wins'.
Please keep us informed as to how its going.

[Guest]

Re: Business Travel

Hi Sapphire, Agreed - first port of call is simply an informal chat about it.