We work Mon-Fri 09:00-18:00 per week. Two of our drivers tend to arrive at work up to 30 mins early each morning. When they arrive they generally go to the canteen and have a coffee/read the paper before their shift starts.
I would assume if their going into the warehouse and checking through the days paperwork and switching on the PC it’s obviously going to have to be recorded as ‘other work’. However if they are just in the canteen having a cuppa then technically their still on ‘rest’. Or should they record the early starts as ‘POA’ because potentially the boss could come in and ask them to carry out a task? There’s a bit of argument that because they don’t start until 09:00 and are not receiving any payment for clocking in early, they should only start recording their day from 09:00 onwards.
dinkytrucks:
There’s a bit of argument that because they don’t start until 09:00 and are not receiving any payment for clocking in early, they should only start recording their day from 09:00 onwards.
If they’re not starting work until 09:00 and not being paid until 09:00 then they should start recording their day from 09:00 because technically that’s when their rest ends.
dinkytrucks:
Or should they record the early starts as ‘POA’ because potentially the boss could come in and ask them to carry out a task?
Sure he could and as they’ve not yet started work and are not yet being paid they would be perfectly within their rights to refuse.
dinkytrucks:
I would assume if their going into the warehouse and checking through the days paperwork and switching on the PC it’s obviously going to have to be recorded as ‘other work’.
Not necessarily, I mean if they just go and have a look to see what they’re going to be doing for the day it’s up-to them, if they’re doing it of their own accord and not being instructed or paid to do it then I can’t see any reason to believe that they’ve finished the rest period.
If they were going into the warehouse and going through the paperwork and sorting it out for 20 to 30 minutes everyday then fair enough it would be work, but just looking to see where they’re going or how much work they’ve got for the day I would ignore.
The thing is mate you don’t want to get too picky on things like this because it will likely antagonise people unnecessarily and come back to bite you on the ■■■
The only issue I can see is if you operate a clocking in system and they clock in when they arrive before going to the canteen. In that situation I would say they should record the 30 or so minutes on the tacho, couple of minutes other work then break or POA until they actually start at 09:00. In the unlikely event you get a visit from VOSA and they check the clocking in records against the tacho data, which they can do during a check, then it could lead to awkward questions.
Other wise I would say just start keeping a record from 09:00, going to the canteen for a coffee and to read the paper is not really any different to stopping at a cafe on the way into work. If teh boss came in at 08:34 and asked them to move a truck or help with the loading and they agreed they can just start their day from that point.
To be honest it really isn’t worth worrying about because with the hours you do you are not going to get anywhere near any of the limits for either the tacho regs or the WTD.
To be honest I don’t see the fact that they may clock in early as an issue, the company would have records of what time they actually started work ie paid from 09:00 so 09:00 would be the start time.
Though to be fair I suppose it would mean some explaining in the case of an inspection.
