By Mike Toten Freelance Writer

A casual cleaner was entitled to payment for time spent travelling between work locations. The Fair Work Commission (FWC) clarified the distinction between payment for travel time and payment of travel expenses in this judgment.

Facts of case

The cleaner started work at the employer’s own premises each day, then travelled to five or six other work sites during the day in an employer-supplied vehicle, carrying his cleaning equipment and tools. He returned to the employer’s site at the end of each day.

While this arrangement operated, he was only paid for the time he spent doing cleaning work. Later, when he travelled from job to job in his own car, he was paid for all his time from commencing at the first site to finishing at the last one. 

The relevant award clearly stated that employees should be paid for the time they spent travelling between workplaces, at the same rate as when they were working. It also provided minimum lengths of time for which any casual employee must be rostered for cleaning at each work site, according to the size of the site.

The employer counter-argued that each site to be cleaned was a separate work shift for a casual employee, therefore it didn’t have to pay for travel time as well. It relied on the award’s “minimum roster time” provisions to claim that each site was a separate shift. Secondly, it claimed that if it provided the vehicle, this also meant it didn’t have to pay for travel time. However, the wording of the award clause meant that a work shift was the full day’s work, not a series of separate jobs – noting that the locations varied both from day to day and were sometimes altered during a day. The second argument failed because provision of the means of travel and time taken to undertake the travel were separate matters, with each covered separately in the award. 

The award also provided that a single shift could be worked at multiple locations.

Decision

The FWC ordered the employer to back-pay the employee for all the time he had spent travelling between work locations during his shifts while he was doing it in an employer-supplied vehicle.

What this means for employers

In disputes such as this one, the first point of reference for employers is the provisions in the award covering the employee. If there are no specific provisions, standard practice is to pay the employee for the entire length of his/her work shift, including for all time spent travelling from one work site to another. A daily shift cannot be broken up into separate mini-shifts for each work site.

Expenses incurred during work-related travel are treated as a separate matter.

Read the judgment

Finn Terrassin v Kimberlie & Co Pty Ltd T/A Kimberlie & Co / Kimberlie & Co Cleaning Services - [2024] FWC 3058 | Fair Work Commission