Supreme Court Says So – QuiFinanza

The Court of Cassation decided that the journey from the time card stamp to the turnstile should be considered working time.

The Court of Cassation decided that employees have the right to do so Get paid For minutes spent in activities before and after performing work. The ruling was issued against the telecommunications company, forcing it to pay more 1.500 euros To three workers for the time they spent “from Stamp the card At the turnstile at the entrance upon completion of the check-in procedure and 5 minutes daily as actual working time from the completion of the check-out procedure until the card is stamped at the turnstile upon exit.

Worker availability must be paid

pronunciation Court of Cassation It is based on current legislation relating to working hours, in particular on Legislative Decree No. 66/2003 and on Community Directives 93/104 and 203/88. The court emphasized that time spent on mandatory operations before and after work should be considered paid work time. The Supreme Court reaffirmed that “paid time requires that operations before or after the completion of the performance of work be necessary and mandatory.”

The Court of Cassation stressed the importance of considering not only “the time of actual performance, but also the time of implementation.” Worker availability And his presence in the workplace.

He stated that the entire period of time was spent within the company on preparatory and additional activities You must payUnless the employer can prove that the employee was free to decide his fate.

According to the Supreme Court, it is considered “work hours The period of time that the worker spends within the company carrying out initiative activities and adjuncts to the performance in the strict sense of the tasks assigned to him, where the employer does not prove that he is free to determine his fate there or subject to hierarchical authority.”

Thus, for example, the time spent by steel plant employees was considered working time Access to the workplaceThis is after stamping the facility guard’s time card and the time he spends inside the latter immediately after the shift. The employer must also pay for dressing time for those jobs where a change of clothing is necessary.

Card time rule

The Regional Court explained the decision that it had taken this approach after it considered the journey from the workstation entrance to be “necessary and obligatory”, as well as “any other preliminary activity (…) for the purposes of checking in and, thereafter, for the purposes of checking out.” The company’s organizational structure and the location of workstations, decided by the employer, determine this Required and reimbursable time.

In case Telecom “It is the employer who decides how to structure its headquarters; where to place the applicants’ workstation and which route to follow; The operating procedure necessary to use it and therefore also determine the necessary time; it is the employer who has decided that at the scheduled start time of the shift, applicants must already be in front of their workstation already configured and ready for use.”