Working time is defined as the time during which an employee is at their employer’s disposal and complies with their instructions without being able to attend to personal matters.
It has been previously ruled that the journey between the changing room and the time clock does not constitute actual working time if the employee is not subject to the employer’s instructions during this journey, even if the time clock is not located in the immediate vicinity of the changing rooms. The fact that an employee is required to wear a uniform does not mean that travel time within the company constitutes working time.
In this case, the Court of Cassation noted the following important facts: employees changed in changing rooms into their work clothes, which bore slogans such as ‘100% at your service’, ‘Can I help you?’ and ‘Yes attitude’.
To reach the time clocks, employees had to walk through aisles where they could be approached by customers.
In the Court’s view, the combination of wearing work clothes bearing service-related slogans and the possibility of being approached by customers in the aisles created a situation in which the employee was at the employer’s disposal and unable to attend to personal matters freely. This time should therefore be classified as actual working time.
