Employee Travel Time and Overtime | Legal Aid

Questioner

I work in the north of the country and have been placed in the middle of the country for 2 days a week by the head office for the implementation of a project for a few months now. Our collective labor agreement states very briefly (can be interpreted in several ways) that if your single travel time is longer than 30 minutes of your normal travel time, you can consider these hours as working hours. Only in the collective labor agreement is the term 'Secondment' mentioned and according to our PZ employee that is not the case and therefore I am not entitled to the above collective labor agreement rule. Now the management of my branch has decided retroactively (since my overtime balance has increased considerably) that the first hour of travel time is for myself. That seemed reasonable to them. The result now is: The first hour of travel time is for me and my overtime balance is reduced by 65 hours. Is this allowed?

Lawyer

As you describe the case, there is no question of secondment. In principle, the employer is not free to unilaterally change the employment conditions of his employees. This may be different if the employment contract contains a 'unilateral amendment clause' and the employer has compelling reasons I don't think that's the case in your situation. So you don't have to agree to the change in the compensation for your travel time. I do advise you to discuss this with your employer first and, if you can't reach an agreement, to inform him in writing (registered with confirmation of receipt) that you do not agree to his request.