A group of home care providers have been ordered to pay more than £100,000 in backdated earnings, around £10,000 per employee, the equivalent of 9 months full time work at the national minimum wage and holiday pay.
Unison, on behalf of ten employees brought a tribunal claim against three care providers for failing to pay their staff travel and waiting time between client visits. The employees would spend up to 60 minutes travelling and waiting between appointments. They were successful in their claim and the employment tribunal ruled that travel and waiting time of up to 60 minutes between appointments should be treated as working time.
This ruling effectively means that by including their travel and wait time, the claimants hourly wage was significantly under the national minimum wage. This case will have implications for Carers across the UK who may be denied full wages because their travel and waiting time is not included as working time.
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