The provisions of the Labour Code provide that the time during which an employee is at the disposal of his employer or employers is to be regarded as working time.
Excluded however are rest periods, during which the employee is not at the disposal of his employer or employers.
Similarly, time which the employee takes to go from his home to his place of work is not to be regarded as working time.
More difficult to answer is the question of travel undertaken by an employee to go from the registered office of the company to a place of work (for example a site) which is not the employer’s registered office.
In our opinion, travel by employees to reach the registered office of the company or an assembly point in order to go by company car to a particular workplace is to be regarded as working time.
Another problem arises where the employer orders an employee to go to a particular place to perform his occupational duties. In such cases it is necessary to check the content of the employment contract.
If a contractual clause provides that the employer may change the place of work and that the employee has been informed in due time where he is to work the following day, then the travelling time between home and the workplace is not to be regarded as working time.
Thus, for example, travel between home and a specified place in Luxembourg territory or abroad is not to be regarded as working time.
However, in the absence of such a clause, the question arises whether the employer is entitled to send an employee to that place of work, since the place of work is determined in the employment contract.
Short trips from the place of work different from those provided for in the employment contract are authorised.
Examples
Travel
- in the field;
- on a site
- or in the company’s premises.
Other changes to the place of work are, where appropriate, to be regarded as a change to an essential clause of an employment contract and therefore call for compliance with the legal procedure provided for in Article L.121-7 of the Labour Code, which covers cases of revision of the employment contract.
However, the question of an essential change does not arise if the contact contains a mobility clause.