Travel Times in Building Cleaning: Definition and Calculation

When does travel time count as working time?

If you have a fixed workplace, the journey there does not count as working time and is not paid. It doesn't matter if you only need a few minutes to get to work or if you commute back and forth from another city every day. However, if the employee does not have a fixed workplace and travels from one assignment location to another every day, travel time counts as paid working time according to a ruling by the ECJ. This particularly affects field staff, cleaners, tradespeople, and construction workers. Even the first journey of the day from home to the first assignment, as well as the journey from the last assignment back home, are considered paid travel time.

How should travel time be compensated?

Employers repeatedly ask how their employees' travel time should be compensated, as this is not clearly regulated by law. Employers are free to pay less for travel time than for normal working hours. However, the minimum wage also applies as the permissible lower limit for travel time. Every commenced half hour of travel time is also calculated as half an hour.

Overview of all relevant court rulings

• According to a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), employees who travel from client to client without a usual workplace must be paid for these travel times from the first to the last journey.
• Employees with a fixed workplace are not paid for their journeys to and from their place of residence.
• Since travel time counts as working time, especially for building cleaning, construction assembly, or tradespeople, care must be taken not to violate the Working Time Act: The daily average of 8 working hours must not be exceeded within a 24-week period.