Huge Victory For European Workers

[warpus]

Yeah, 45 minutes getting to work is alright. But.. some people spend an hour and a half getting to work. Or two. And I just think that those people are crazy - because such long commute times are likely to have made them crazy. Especially if they're driving - at least on the subway or bus you can sit back and read a book or something.

 

[illram]

It takes me 45 minutes to an hour to get to the office, but it's on the bus, so it doesn't bother me. Also I don't have to go to the office very often. (But when I did on a daily basis, I didn't mind the bus ride unless someone was being insane/dispelling bodily fluids/naked/blasting cellphone music.)

I had a job that took 30 minutes to an hour to get to work in traffic (driving) and it was soul crushing. I will never do that again.

 

[warpus]

I had a boss who spent 2 hours getting to work and 2 hours getting home. He had no life. Yep, he was always irritated and on the edge. edit: let me correct that - the job was his life - another sign of his insanity.

I can't imagine working in Los Angeles or San Jose. Cars cars cars. My sanity is not worth it, not even for the $$$.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Yeah, 45 minutes getting to work is alright. But.. some people spend an hour and a half getting to work. Or two. And I just think that those people are crazy - because such long commute times are likely to have made them crazy. Especially if they're driving - at least on the subway or bus you can sit back and read a book or something.

After living in Manhattan and walking 3 blocks to the office for a few hours every week or so for a status or conference meeting, I moved to Orlando and tried to deal with a 30 minute slightly off rush-hour commute every day. I didn't find it pleasant in the least.

There are so many jobs that could be performed at home, especially in the high tech fields.

 

[bhavv]

Yeah, 45 minutes getting to work is alright. But.. some people spend an hour and a half getting to work. Or two. And I just think that those people are crazy - because such long commute times are likely to have made them crazy. Especially if they're driving - at least on the subway or bus you can sit back and read a book or something.

ATM its 50 mins on the bus for me to get to Keighley, but the bus is only 10 mins from where I live.

Leeds takes longer, 70-100 mins depending on trafic, but I can take the train instead which only takes 20 mins on top of travel to the interchange of 20-30 mins.

 

[Lillefix]

http://qz.com/500186/a-court-has-ruled-that-time-spent-traveling-to-and-from-work-is-work/

Finally, a court has had the wisdom to realize that workers should be compensated for the time they spend commuting. I have always believed this should be the case as time spent travelling to and from work is an employment activity and should be compensated as such since the employee would not be partaking in that activity if they didn't have a job to get to.

Let's hope the wisdom of this ruling makes its way across the Atlantic and US workers get compensated for their commutes as well, since our commute times are absolutely outrageous. Some people spend as much as 4 hours a day just getting to and from work.

What do you think will be the effects of this though? Will companies stop hiring people who live far away so as to minimize the amount they have to pay for commuting? If so, should employers be allowed to discriminate in their hiring based on distance from the worksite? Should they be allowed to terminate employees that live far away as a cost cutting measure, or should that count as unlawful termination?

As others have pointed out, you might have misunderstood a bit. This is about people who travel different places in order to do their work. Like people doing maintenance on things or installing them, for example elevators. In my company people sometimes have to drive 10-12 hours just to get to the place they have to do maintenance. It would be atrocious if they were not compensated for that time.

 

[Akka]

The judgment applies to workers without a fixed office

Oh, I missed that, despite it being on the very first line. Duh.

Okay, I completely support the whole thing then. If you're required to move places for your work, then it IS part of your work and should be considered work hours (though TBH, I think it's already the case here, probably the reason I considered it a given and thought it was about extending this situation to commuters).

 

[warpus]

Hmm what about business trips, though? Should you get paid for every single hour you're on the trip, excluding maybe sleep?

 

[Lillefix]

Hmm what about business trips, though? Should you get paid for every single hour you're on the trip, excluding maybe sleep?

Personally I'm compensated for travelling and the time I do actual work or are in meetings.

 

[warpus]

As in, you get paid for the time you're on the flight?

 

[Lillefix]

As in, you get paid for the time you're on the flight?

Yes, either money or spare time. I almost always take spare time.

I live a ten minutes by car from work, so I begin clocking in hours ten minutes after I leave home, if you understand what I mean.

I've never got a clear answer on what the exact rules are, but I think this is more or less the policy for my company. If I didn't get compensated for traveling and I still had to travel as much as I do, I'd quit.

 

[daft]

This sort of law would never come in life in Canada, except for the public sector that is.