Required to travel longer - questions

Mr23

I am usually a 20minute drive from my work place but have been away offsite for a week. This offsite location adds another hour and a bit to my journey each way requiring me to leave early and come home
well after my normal dinner time.

Can employers require you to do this and not pay you? I am in a normal 9-5 job and getting mileage for he journey. I was told no to time back/overtime as other companies expect this of employees as part of their role and we have it easy? Fair enough if this is allowed but I was jut curious if they are performing correct employee rights.

Cheers in advance

tanith

Look at the terms and conditions of your contract if you have one it will probably say something along the lines that you may be required to work at different locations... if so I guess they have the right to move you around as they please.

Anihilator

You might be able to push for toil or OT but is it worth the hassle

donnajunkie

i suspect getting travel time as i think they call it is a privilege and not a right unfortunately. jobcentres require people to be willing to take a job that is upto 90 minutes journey time away.
as someone suggested check your contract. if there isnt anything in that saying they will pay you for extra journey time to sites then unfortunately i think you are out of luck.

pinkshoes

So long as they're paying you the mileage, there's not much you can do.

Saying that, when I have to work on another site that is 30 minutes away, I make sure I leave 30 minutes before my finish time to allow for the travelling time. I also refuse to attend meetings that would mean me travelling during my (unpaid) lunch hour.

Could you not take an extra long lunch break to make up for the travel time?

Could you not call into your normal office first at your normal starting hour to "clock in", and THEN travel on to this other place?

Bobl

pinkshoes wrote: »

So long as they're paying you the mileage, there's not much you can do.

Saying that, when I have to work on another site that is 30 minutes away, I make sure I leave 30 minutes before my finish time to allow for the travelling time. I also refuse to attend meetings that would mean me travelling during my (unpaid) lunch hour.

Could you not take an extra long lunch break to make up for the travel time?

Could you not call into your normal office first at your normal starting hour to "clock in", and THEN travel on to this other place?

With an attitude like that I am surprised you still have a job, unless its in the public sector of course!

Pete111

Camers/Pinkshoes are you guys for real? Actually scratch that, I've worked with this mindset before. If I recall, I had to run a lot of redundancies in that job!

Seriously though - Yes, they are likely to have the right to ask you to do this for free as there will almost certainly be a clause relating to providing work beyond 'normal hours 'as required' in your contract.

Unless it is specifically mentioned in your contract or company policy that you will get OT for travel time off site then kicking up a fuss will only serve to draw attention to yourself as a potential troublemaker in a time of economic woe - not a good plan ..

Reggie_Rebel

It's usually give and take. I work 15 miles from home Monday to Thursday but 50 miles away on Friday's. So I leave at 4.00 on Friday. If I can't nip out at 4.00 then I either start late or go home earlier one day the next week.

ceridwen

Bobl wrote: »

With an attitude like that I am surprised you still have a job, unless its in the public sector of course!

But then - why SHOULD an employer get free work from an employee? The only time it "might" be worth that employees while to do unpaid overtime would be if they were brown-nosing to get a promotion.

I am presuming there arent any realistic chances of promotion - so whats the point?

I would go for "reclaiming the time" some other way myself - shorter days some other time or something...whatever seems appropriate to stick to the contractual workweek.

real1314

Pete111 wrote: »

Camers/Pinkshoes are you guys for real? Actually scratch that, I've worked with this mindset before. If I recall, I had to run a lot of redundancies in that job!

Seriously though - Yes, they are likely to have the right to ask you to do this for free as there will almost certainly be a clause relating to providing work beyond 'normal hours 'as required' in your contract.

Unless it is specifically mentioned in your contract or company policy that you will get OT for travel time off site then kicking up a fuss will only serve to draw attention to yourself as a potential troublemaker in a time of economic woe - not a good plan ..

You had to "run" a lot of redundancies? Like running the gauntlet?

Come on, if an employer values their emplyees, they also must value their time. So they pay them. If you think it's worthwhile sending someone 40 miles, then you'd pay for it.
Do YOU do things for free?

pinkshoes

Bobl wrote: »

With an attitude like that I am surprised you still have a job, unless its in the public sector of course!

Pete111 wrote: »

Camers/Pinkshoes are you guys for real? Actually scratch that, I've worked with this mindset before. If I recall, I had to run a lot of redundancies in that job!

Why?

I work well over the hours I'm paid for, I'm treated like sh*t (bullying and blame culture), and get minimum holiday allowance. This is a professional job requiring high qualifications for a private company. (so no, definitely not public sector!). I was very much mis-sold the job.

I'm not asking them to PAY me for my extra hours, but if they actually treated me with respect, and were grateful for the extra work I do, then I wouldn't mind spending more time at the other site.

I work in an office where over half of us are actively looking for another job. The company have a high turn over of staff due to their attitude, and if we weren't in a recession, the company would be struggling due to no staff! They doing extremely well profit wise, so no redundancies on the cards.

So before you judge, why not ask some questions and get the full story?

Just because a company is making a lot of money, it doesn't give them the right to treat their employees like cr*p.