Travelling on business, what rights do I have?

Question

I would really appreciate any advise from someone whose been in the situation, or deals with employment law.
I travelled to London, from Glasgow this week on business.
My normal working day is 9.30am-5.30pm.
However, I had to check in @ 6.00am (for my flight to London at 7.00am), and on the return my flight was delayed by quite a bit, and I did not land until nearly midnight on Tuesday.
(In total I spent 8 hours extra than I was being paid for)
My work advised me I could take "travelling time" back, but only 1 hour, I still had to be in work on Wednesday morning @ 10.30am.

Is this right?
I know that the flight being delayed was not they're fault, but I was still on company business, and so on company time?
Am I entitled to anything?

Thanks for any advise

Thanks for all the advice, just to give you a bit more information.
I am salary paid, not hourly. My company is usually quite strict with time-keeping, eg if you arrive 15mins late back from lunch you'll be expected to make that 15mins up some other time.
We have extensive HR polices, but the one about company travel says nothing about travelling time, and my contract only states "at times the company may need you to travel to other offices"
Hope this is useful

My contract does state 35.5 hours a week. I do get paid for overtime, but the company has a "work/life balance" policy (there is nothing in writting about this however).
I should point out, I don't intend to take any action or anything, I just wanted to know everyone's views out of interest.
Thanks

Answer 1

First check your employment contract to be sure that you have not already signed all of your rights away.
If there is nothing in the contract to the contrary you should be covered for being paid from the moment you leave your house until the moment you re-enter it. After that you are entitled to eight hours break before you go back to work again.
At least that is what the rules used to say. My info . may be a few years out of date.

Answer 2

The simple answer is one you might not like;

1. Is it right? -
Maybe - depends on your point of view and that's a value judgement question anyway

2. Is it on company time? That is, if I may so so, an irrelevant question. Youa re salaried and your contract no doubt says 'such hours as the company may reasonably require'. Other than your fixed hours, 'company time' is a meaningless concept - at least in employment law.

3. Are you entitled to anything? No.
You don't get overtime and you can't claim time in lieu. Not in the UK and not under existing employment legislation.

I told you you'd not like it, but this is the law section.

Edit:
Unless 'travel' falls within the definition of overtime within the terms and conditions (and I'll wager it does not) then you can't claim this either - sorry.

Answer 3

From what I know, depending on the kind of contract you have, is that you may have set hours somewhere in your contract but it will (or should) state that you will be required to work outside your normal hours - it can be worded in various ways.

I would also imagine that you were fully aware of your business trips being apart of your work so therefore delays etc would be part and parcel of your job.

I think you'll find this is perfectly acceptable. If you do have issues or you need clarification then maybe you should speak with HR?

Answer 4

Uh folks.

She is in the UK. All the US specific advice, while well intentioned, is meaningless to her.

Inpriciple, I agree, company time includes travel time.

But we don't know your job, how critical time in office is, or if you are salaried or paid by the hour (which makes a differnce here in US, and likley does also in UK).

Still, when I was in California, and our UK folks flew here on business, we didn;t delay the next work day if the flight was delayed. We just poured extra coffee :)

But they were salaried...

Answer 5

I have never travelled overseas before on a business trip, but I recently went out of state for a work conference. I kept a log of all my time accounted for while I was on the trip... example 5am-7:30am: travelling to airport 7:45-9:00am: checking in bags/waiting for flight, 9:15am-1:30pm: flight, 2pm-3:10pm en route to hotel/checking in bags, etc. etc. My work paid me for all time that I was travelling, and time spent in meetings. The only time they did not pay me was for anything non-work related, such as sleeping and eating out/sight seeing, etc.

Answer 6

If you are non-exempt (hourly), you are entitled to pay for the hours "worked". This includes travel time. If you are an exempt employee (salary) there is nothing else you are entitled to.

Answer 7

The rights vary from company to company. Check out with your colleagues and line manger what your rights are. if your in an Union you could also go to them if you wish to do so.

Answer 8

"Rights" what rights?

There's no such thing as rights it's your responsibility to get yourself to work wherever your employer requires you to be. That's done in your own time.

Unless you're a civil servant, who live in some stange world of their own, they get paid travelling time. Wonder why my taxes are so high.