Employer paid travel time ?

[brioss]

if travel overseas is not a regular part of job role, but is required a few times a year. Whats the legal take on payment.

If you were traveling at the weekend for a course in the USA and returning the following Saturday.

What would you pe paid, if anything.

Fixed payment?
Normal hour rate ?
Overtime ?

Anyone familar with company travel law ?

Cheers

[Size Nine Elm]

I've done a fair bit of US travel over the years, and never been paid additionally- or expected to be, just part of the job. Maybe taken the odd half-day in lieu after flying back and being abit jet-lagged.

I suspect if you are looking for explicit payment for such travel you may not be viewed as having quite the right attitude for the job... depending on travel frequency. IMHO.

[mmm-five]

It depends entirely on the contract terms. I have had contracts which pay me hourly from the moment I leave the house, and also have had contracts which pay me a daily rate for anything from 1-20 hours. Some include travel time as part of the working day, some don't.

If there's nothing specific in your contract about travel then you will have to negotiate beforehand.

It may be the case that instead of getting a extra day's pay you are willing to accept an upgrade to business/first class rather than economy.

It may also be the case that it will be expected of you as part of a 'reasonable unpaid overtime' clause.

[tonyhetherington]

What is your current pay terms? i.e. do you receive a yearly salary divided by 12, or are you paid by the hour?

If it's a salary then it's simply part of the job. I travel a fair bit with work and it's just one of those things - 4am on a Monday morning is the 'price' you pay for receiving a 'good' salary (if that makes sense!?)

[forever_driving]

I read the title as 'Employer paid time-travel'... thought I was missing out on a perk

[vetteheadracer]

I work as a contractor and when I was sent to the US to do some training for a client last year I charged them for the flying time. My arguement is that I am piad hourly and to work at a certain location, if they choose to send me to another location then I take off the ime I would normally spend getting to that location but any time over that is payable time.
Think I got about 6 days pay for 2 days of training in Philly

[Vitesse39]

I found it's dependent on employer.

I worked for Matsushita who payed me for all my travelling time regardless.
Then I worked for 'A N other' company who paid naff all full stop even though regular travel was expected and part of the job.

[deva link]

brioss said:

Anyone familar with company travel law ?

company travel "law"

I used to work for a large multinational car manufacturer and was hourly paid. They wanted to send us to Germany for 2 wks training and the Union insisted that we should be paid for every hour we were away from home. The company realised how expensive that was going to be and cancelled the training!

I have a friend who works for a large multinational oil company. He's staff, but gets paid travelling time, at time and a half of his equivalent hourly rate, from the moment he leaves home until he gets to his hotel. He also gets a disturbance allowance for every night away from home. He cries if he doesn't go anywhere for a month, such is the amount he makes out of it.
The trouble is, he thinks everyone who travels gets paid like this and thinks everyone's making a fortune.

I travel now, including typically 4 trips per year to the US, and get my out of pocket expenses refunded etc, but I don't make any profit on the trip.

[Mr E]

Size Nine Elm said:

I've done a fair bit of US travel over the years, and never been paid additionally- or expected to be, just part of the job. Maybe taken the odd half-day in lieu after flying back and being abit jet-lagged.

Ditto.

[brioss]

Thanks to you all, I looks like a right can of worms.

[jasandjules]

As said above, if you are salaried, tough luck.. I suspect the company will look at you rather oddly if you start asking for extra cash in those circumstances..

When I was on a training course, if it was in London, then I would be in the office for 7-8.30, head to the training course, then back to the office afterwards for a few hours.. Just part of being salaried.

[Don]

Second the "salaried" position. If you are in a salaried job then occasional travel is nearly always part of the job. You may find that your contract gives you a specific place of work (for tax purposes) but that you may be required to work "at other times and at other places as required by the work" or some such phrase.

Usually firms do something if you have to travel in your own time: e.g. if you travel on a Sunday afternoon to be somewhere for Monday morning then the firm buys you a nice dinner and a bottle of wine to go with it.

My wife's firm has a policy that says you don't get paid for travel - but no-one is expected to leave home before 6:00am on a Monday or get home later than 7:00pm on a Friday. They just try to avoid scheduling meetings that would break that policy.

If you are a contractor you would be very, very lucky to be able to charge travel time.

If one is a supplying firm (as we are) then it is impossible to charge clients travel time. Or expenses for that matter. Simply because one gets too many arguments over how many hours are fair or how much a bed for the night and dinner should cost. Its far better to simply build the costs into the rate charged - a "composite" rate inclusive of expenses. Customers can budget for it (which they like) and we don't have to produce a bazillion reciepts and timesheets for it!

[wiggy001]

I've always found that, as a salaried employee, it depends whether the work is being classed as overtime or not.

If I travel to another office Monday - Friday, I don't get anything extra other than my petrol paid. Working at the weekend (classed as overtime), I get paid from the minute I leave my house until the minute I return.

As said, depends on your contract as there is no hard and fast rule...

[srebbe64]

If I notice that an employee is working odd hours, weekends and the like, be it travelling or anything else, I normally give them a few days days extra annual leave.