Contract wording. Help please.

[Dutch123]

Morning, I am new here so I hope this is the correct way to ask for some advice.
Firstly, with the type of work I am in we have a company vehicle at home and travel to various sites during the week, can be 30min or could be 2 hours away. In our contract it reads "...you will be reqired to travel to such places as the contracts undertaken by the company dictate". And also "Your working day will commence when you arrive on site. Travel time will not count towards your working time. For the avoidance of any doubt, time spent travelling to and from your place of work, wherever that may be, will not constitute working time and accordingly there is not right to be paid for such travelling time"
The company are planing to send some staff further away, upto 3 hours, provide B&B so we wouldn't have to drive back home. In the contract there is nothing relating to staying away from home. Can we be made to stay away from home? Thanks inadvance.

[R0b]

Re: Contract wording. Help please.

Hi Dutch, are you office or home based? From the sounds of it you are home based but need clarification

[Dutch123]

Re: Contract wording. Help please.

Hi, more like field based. I drive from home to various locations.

[R0b]

Re: Contract wording. Help please.

I would suggest taking a read through the following thread, that should help you understand your position up to about post #8 or #9 and then it veers off a bit.

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...168#post582168

If you have any further questions that need clarifying, feel free to post up and will try to answer them.

[Openlaw15]

Re: Contract wording. Help please.

Morning, I am new here so I hope this is the correct way to ask for some advice.
Firstly, with the type of work I am in we have a company vehicle at home and travel to various sites during the week, can be 30min or could be 2 hours away. In our contract it reads "...you will be reqired to travel to such places as the contracts undertaken by the company dictate". And also "Your working day will commence when you arrive on site. Travel time will not count towards your working time. For the avoidance of any doubt, time spent travelling to and from your place of work, wherever that may be, will not constitute working time and accordingly there is not right to be paid for such travelling time"
The company are planing to send some staff further away, upto 3 hours, provide B&B so we wouldn't have to drive back home. In the contract there is nothing relating to staying away from home. Can we be made to stay away from home? Thanks inadvance.

If the vehicle has a tachograph, then work starts when the person accesses the vehicle at point A (ie where the vehicle is parked overnight), so before it gets to point B (ie on client's site).

[Ripped-Off]

Re: Contract wording. Help please.

Take a look at this, it might give you a few pointers. Not sure if it is has been superseded by any new rules.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34217549

[Openlaw15]

Re: Contract wording. Help please.

Take a look at this, it might give you a few pointers. Not sure if it is has been superseded by any new rules.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34217549

Yeah, I thought this was attached to the Working Time Directive. I know it's attached to drivers under the EU rules anyway.

[Dutch123]

Re: Contract wording. Help please.

Thanks for the replies. What about being made to stay away from home for the week?

[R0b]

Re: Contract wording. Help please.

In what context? Do you mean staying at a hotel and then travelling from the hotel to the site? Your working day is likely to start from the hotel to the site you are attending.

If you still travel from home on the first day to the site, the hours it has taken would be counted as your working day, despite being given a B&B, at least that's how I would interpret it. And then your working day begins from the hotel to the site the following day.

Is this purely about travelling time or does this also relate to being paid the National Minimum Wage?

[Dutch123]

Re: Contract wording. Help please.

Hi ROb. More like, I don't want to stay away from home during the week. Is there anything, in the parts of my contract that you have seen, that forces me to stay away from home?

[R0b]

Re: Contract wording. Help please.

you will be reqired to travel to such places as the contracts undertaken by the company dictate

Thats what forces you to stay away from home. If your work dictates that you must travel to sites becuse the company's business is in distant locations then they can make that part of your job role. If you refuse then you are in breach of your employment contract and that will give rise to disciplinary. If you are not happy with the travelling I would suggest you discuss this with your employer or seek alternative employment.

[Amethyst]

Re: Contract wording. Help please.

I can see that the travel isn't really the root of your concerns here, you simply do not want to be away from home.

Is this likely to be a long term issue or is it a temporary contract ?

From the contract wording you have given, there is nothing to suggest you have to stay away from home, only wording around travel and what constitutes paid time. Are both you and the company are happy traveling each day ? (I'm guessing not)

Reasonable notice (hard to define an exact period) and due regard to personal circumstances (family responsibilities) has to be given. What is the type of work ?, I'm guessing you are a contractor of some description, and is this "normal practice" for the companies employees ?

[Dutch123]

Re: Contract wording. Help please.

Thanks for all your replies. It looks like the company have changed its mind. Thanks again.