In this week’s MMD we have diverse range of updates from drink driving to mother’s day. On the podcast we debate whether employees should be paid minimum wage whilst travelling to work, whilst Nils provides an update on drink driving. Daniel has prepared a video on whether can elect the birth date as the start of maternity leave.

THE MMD PODCAST

Episode 34:  Update that Puts the Brakes On

Join Sam and Nils as they review an Employment Tribunal case centered on whether national minimum wage should be paid to employees whilst they are travelling to work and discuss an interesting article by the BMA relating to drink driving.

https://spoti.fi/3RWHwkR

THE MEDIA HUB

Mother’s Day

In this video, we consider whether an employee can elect ‘the day of birth’ as the start of maternity leave, as well discussing arrangements for the return to work and notice requirements where the return date is changed.

https://youtu.be/p9c2RmwAvew

Employer did not have to pay workers the national minimum wage while they were travelling to work

Taylor’s Poultry Services employ workers on zero-hours contract to work on poultry farms. They provide minibuses to take its workers to and from their homes to farms around the country. These journeys can often be lengthy, up to four hours each way, meaning that the workers would travel for a total of eight hours on top of their normal working day. In 2020, the HMRC issued a notice of underpayment to the firm as it decided that the time workers spent travelling to and from farms was “time work” and the workers should therefore be paid at least the national minimum wage for their travelling time. The Company took its case to an employment tribunal, arguing that the workers were just travelling to and from their assignments and not required to carry any work while on the minibus, so it was not required to pay the national minimum wage. It said the workers could sleep on the minibus if they wanted. However, the tribunal upheld the notice of underpayment as it stated that the travel time was “not a normal commute” and formed “part of this type of job.” The Company appealed this decision, stating that the tribunal had failed to consider the case in accordance with the Supreme Court’s Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake judgment, which found that care workers who sleep at service users’ homes are not entitled to the national minimum wage while not carrying out work activities. Although it said it was rare for workers to be required by their employer to use its transport to take a lengthy journey to work, the EAT found that a worker, in this case, would not be entitled to the NMW for the time spent travelling. However, if the organisation required workers to come to its premises first, the subsequent travel would need to be paid at least the national minimum wage.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/667be1895b0d63b556a4b37a/1__Taylors_Service_Ltd_2__Mr_Ivan_Taylor___Mr_Eric_Taylor_ta_Taylors_Poultry_Services_v_HMRC__2024__EAT_102.pdf

JOIN US FOR OUR MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS SESSIONS

Through our relationship with Tailored Learning Solutions who provide mental health first aid courses in our business, we are now able to announce that we are running multiple courses at our Wakefield office including the following:

Mental Health First Aid (2 day course)

• 25/26th Sept

Mental Health First Aid – Refresher (1/2 day workshop)

• 27th September

Suicide First Aid – Understanding Suicide Intervention (1 day workshop)

• 28th November

Mental Health for Managers Workshop (1 day workshop)

• 14th October

The details of these sessions can be found at the Tailored Learning Solutions website: https://www.tailoredlearningsolutions.co.uk/book-online?category=all-services

If you would like further information and details of the cost for these events, please email carolgledhill@chadlaw.co.uk