Employers can ask employees to be present a few minutes early so they can start their actual duties on time. One reason for this may be that logging in, or starting up devices and systems, can take a while, meaning employees need to begin before their official start time.
This raises the question of whether those minutes should be regarded as working time, and therefore paid to the employees concerned. The District Court The Hague and the Court of Appeal The Hague recently answered this question.
The case concerned a call-centre employee who, under the employer’s scheduling policy, was required to report to his supervisor ten minutes before the start of his shift. The scheduling policy had been declared fully applicable to his employment in his contract. When his employment ended, the employee brought a legal claim for payment covering every occasion on which he had been present ten minutes before his start time.
According to the district court and the Court of Appeal, being present ten minutes early must be regarded as working time. After all, this presence was not optional but mandatory. Logging in early was necessary to carry out his duties, and therefore counted as work. In this case, the employer was ordered to pay the outstanding wages on that basis.
2023: what about remote workers?
But what about employees working remotely, who must be ready at home or elsewhere 10 minutes before their start time? The District Court The Hague recently ruled that what matters here is the extent to which the employee is free to organise their own time. Remote workers can spend their time during the log-in period as they see fit, meaning this does not count as working time.
Important for you
Mandatory presence before the start of work must be paid to employees. It is therefore important to frame such a requirement in the correct (legal) form. If the advice is non-binding, and not being present early carries no consequences for the employee concerned, those minutes do not count as working time.
For the full ruling of the District Court The Hague, click here (in Dutch).
For the full ruling of the Court of Appeal The Hague, click here (in Dutch).
Our lawyers are happy to advise you on your existing arrangement, or on introducing such a policy. Please feel free to contact one of Sørensen Advocaten’s employment lawyers.
