Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

DH boss is a CF

39 replies

Confusedasnormal · 04/09/2019 23:45

I am fairly sure IANBU but this seems so bonkers that I had to check.

DH is in a fairly new job. The company (or at least his boss) seems like a complete CF.

Today DH got told by his manager that this is not a full working day and that he needs to work 8 hours in addition to travel time.

The day that they were discussing DH let at 6am, drove from near Manchester to Wakefield to do a site visit taking about 30 minutes, then had to drive to Glasgow for another visit taking 30 minutes, then drive home. He arrived home at 7pm.

His ‘place of work’ is near Manchester, he is not field based and was instructed to do the two visits in one day.

I think that in this situation travel time is part of working hours, and the ACAS website seems to support this.

I’ve suggested he should speak to HR to clarify their policy AIBU?

OP posts:
Apolloanddaphne · 05/09/2019 07:01

I was a social worker. My work started at the office but I was paid when travelling between appointments. To not include travel time in his working day is madness.

flumpybear · 05/09/2019 07:13

Those trips are ludicrous - Wakefield and Leeds or Wakefield and Sheffield - yes, but Wakefield then all the way up to Glasgow - no!

Does he 'cover' these areas regularly?

Travel time, unless to usual place of work, is work time

Does the fuel allowance cover the actual fuel used? I'd be pissed if it cost me to travel to places even if it's a company car ... I assume he pays tax on it (don't see these cars as a perk myself)

WhoKnewBeefStew · 05/09/2019 07:17

I used to do a similar type role and my day started as soon as I left the house if I was doing customer visits. So in the case of your dh, I'd have put down 12 hrs on my time sheet.

Deathraystare · 05/09/2019 07:27

Travel time away from your normal place of work is considered working time under the Working Time Regulations which mandate breaks etc. Thank you EU.

Sorry to mention Brxt but I am seriously worried that any good the Eu came up with to help the working Man and Woman will be down the pan apres Brxt. Am I right?

Sam983 · 05/09/2019 07:31

As a HR person, yanbu. Travelling to a fixed point of work is not counted as work, however travelling to visits, other sites etc is counted as work. Unless otherwise stipulated in contact, look very carefully through this.
I used to have a job that had basic hours 8.30-5.30, however part of that job was to be available early if something went wrong - I was often out at 6am, however reasonable boss let me either go home and start later or leave early, which was absolutely fine.
If contract states that extra hours must be worked, I would look elsewhere

Henhophouse · 05/09/2019 07:34

My husband is a loss adjuster. He woke up at 6am the other day - travelled all day, did meetings and then got in at 2am. The next day he did no work and if his boss had said anything he would have told him to jog on. Travel time is work time.

Nousernameforme · 05/09/2019 08:06

If you added another 7 hours "work" onto that day you would only be allowing approx 6.5 hours for downtime. So that would be completely unacceptable.
If they want him to do office based work pay for him to get the train and taxis, then he will be able to answer emails etc on route

Penners99 · 05/09/2019 08:09

I had a similar boss years ago. He expected me to travel all over in my personal car and did not include travel time or pay mileage. After two weeks I just turned up at the office and sat working at my desk. Boss screamed at me to get to remote site. He nearly had a heart attack when I asked for a company car and fuel card to do so. He said I had to use my own car and if I did not he would "let me go". I just quit then and there. He was shouting that I would not find a job as good as his. Prick. I just started contracting and, while a bit rocky at the start, never looked back. Oh, I also walked out as the only person knowing the admin passwords for all the back-end systems.

Deathraystare · 05/09/2019 10:09

Oh, I also walked out as the only person knowing the admin passwords for all the back-end systems.

Nice one!!!

Penners99 · 05/09/2019 10:36

Thanks. I had put all the passwords in hard copy, sealed, in the Fire Safe. Mad boss cleared out all my records after I left, including the passwords. No problems until the main database failed. Full system rebuild from bare metal was needed. I did chortle a bit...

theemmadilemma · 05/09/2019 11:22

No they can't ask him to work an additional 8 hours. That's ridiculous, travel time to site outside your place of work is considered working hours - or should be.

I do wonder though, when salaried, how many employers use that line in a contract about 'overtime when required' to get around people working long days travel and not giving it back. Partner can do 12 hr days travelling between customer visits at time. He doesn't get the time back. And he's salaried so no over payment. It's just expected in his role.

FairyBatman · 14/11/2019 16:23

Thanks for everyone's help with this. He had a chat with them and involved HR and things improved - for a week.

Then it started getting worse again so he quit and started a new role this week!

Thanks for all the advice! Wine

FairyBatman · 14/11/2019 16:23

Also namechangefail.com

Ferretyone · 14/11/2019 17:18

@Confusedasnormal

As he is salaried there are probably no "conditioned hours" and he may be able to take time off in lieu at some later date. I would certainly think that this needs sorting out.

DH should deal with HR [if any] or senior management [not his boss]

New posts on this thread. Refresh page