time in lieu quest

abbey2000

Hi. I work in the private sector and my job sometimes requires me to travel.

For example, last Sunday i had to attend a conference. I had to travel up to Dublin Saturday evening by train. This took 3 hours. I had the day at the conference on Sunday, and came back home Monday. Most of my weekend was taken up by this.

My company has no policy in place for dealing with time in lieu for situations like this. does anyone have any experience of how i should be claiming my time back for this? how does this work in other companies? I only get 20 days hols per year.

Any experience welcome, Thanks

seamus

Depends on your contract of employment.

If it says nothing about working hours above your normal weekly hours, then you would be entitled to compensation for any time spent working outside of your normal core hours.

This can take the form of leave in lieu or overtime, agree it with your employer. You are not entitled to claim for time spent travelling.

amen

You are not entitled to claim for time spent travelling.

I don't think that is true.
If I have to be in the USA on Monday at 9:00am and the only way to get there is to leave on Sunday morning the compnay doesn;t owe me the time I spent getting there? I believe it does.

abbey2000

i have been working for the company for a long time and do not even remember if i signed a contract. i usually go by the company policies but there is none that covers this situation.

i do get hours back if i stay and work late in the evening, so if i worked 2 extra hours from 5-7pm, i would get 2hrs time in lieu back for that.

seamus

amen wrote: »

I don't think that is true.
If I have to be in the USA on Monday at 9:00am and the only way to get there is to leave on Sunday morning the compnay doesn;t owe me the time I spent getting there? I believe it does.

You believe it does, but do you know it does?

Time spent going from home to your place of work is legally not considered working time. Your "place of work" includes places to where you may be sent by your employer. Obviously your employer cannot suddenly decide one day that New York is your place of work from now on, but it's reasonable for them to send you there occasionally provided that they cover any additional costs incurred in getting there.

I have left home on a Sunday evening in order to be in a foreign country for work at 9am Monday morning, and no you can't claim for that time.

The same applies for time spent travelling home.

There is in fact a culture in some places because of this. That no matter where the person has to be one morning, they will travel to their employer's workplace before setting out to where they need to go. Otherwise they would be unable to claim travel expenses. County council workers are known for this: Travelling 30 minutes from home to their workplace, and then 30 minutes back to a site which is five minutes from their home. They'll also leave at 4pm to go back to their workplace in order to arrive home by 5pm.

abbey, you are entitled to claim for the time spent at the conference, in addition to your travel, accomodation and food costs.

Dfens

Why don't you consult the legislation on break times required e.g. 11 hour rest period between work shifts (note this includes some exceptions, e.g. prision officers).