STAS-IV

In STAS-IV , the Court of Justice of the European Union was asked whether time spent travelling in a company vehicle from a base determined by the employer to a work site and back must be regarded as “working time” under Article 2(1) of Directive 2003/88/EC on working time. The case concerned biodiversity protection workers employed by a public undertaking who were deployed to different natural sites across the country to carry out environmental protection and conservation tasks. Each day, they were required to travel as a group in a company vehicle from a fixed base to the designated site and return in the same way, with the return journey not counted as working time.

The CJEU held that such outward and return journeys must be classified as “working time” where workers are required to travel in a vehicle belonging to the employer, at a time set by the employer, and to sites determined by the employer. 

Applying the EU definition of working time as periods during which:

• the worker is working,
• at the employer’s disposal
• and carrying out duties
  the Court found that this organised travel formed an integral part of their work, given that they had no fixed place of work and were deployed to different locations nationwide. Accordingly, that travel time must be included as working time for the purposes of the Directive.

The final judgement is accessible here.