Commute

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Workers on their way to work

The commute is in different jurisdictions , the distance that an employee between his home and the workplace has to travel, and vice versa.

General

Since the place of work and place of residence are usually not identical (exception: study ), the employee has to accept a commute. The commute to work is neither part of working hours nor is it part of leisure time , but counts as part of the mandatory period during which “activities such as household and repair work , visits to the authorities ...” are carried out. The length of the way to work usually also determines the choice of means of transport . According to this, in the modal split of Germany in 2014, 66.8% used motorized private transport , 14.0% public transport , 9% are pedestrians and 8.8% used the bicycle on the way to work.

Employment Law

Numerous dangers lurk for the employee on the way to work, especially technical ( e.g. breakdown of the means of transport), traffic-related ( e.g. diversion , traffic jam , traffic accident ) or weather- related (rain, snow, storm). From this risk may result by the worker to represent has. Since the employee bears the risk of the road, his ability to work is lost if he cannot reach his workplace due to objective obstacles such as traffic disruptions ( e.g. driving ban due to smog alarm , failure of public transport , road closure ) or natural events (such as floods , snowdrifts , icy ice ). This is to "objective performance obstacles" in which the obligation of the employer from the legal point of § 616 BGB is eliminated. Thus, at the expense of the employee, § 297 BGB intervenes, according to which the employer is not in default of acceptance if the employee is unable to perform the work owed by him at the contractually stipulated time . In this context, “being unable” is to be understood as not only subjective, but also objective impossibility of performance, as the wording of the law makes clear. Accordingly, the employer does not have to pay any wages for the lost working hours . According to Section 615 of the German Civil Code (BGB), the employee is not entitled to wages if he cannot offer his work because the roads are impassable.

Social security law

The directional risk of the employee falls into an intermediate region in which the privacy (of the apartment choice) the employee with his work duties blended (appearance in the workplace). A commuting accident occurs when the direct route to the workplace was chosen and the employee suffers an accident with personal injury . This way to work does not always have to be the shortest route if another route is faster, safer or more convenient. Under insurance law , the way to work is between the front door (garage door) and the factory gate without interruptions on the way. Not only the actual professional activity but also the way to and from work is recognized as an insured activity. The way accident namely according to § 8 , para. 2 Nos. 1-4 SGB VII the work accident equal and the legal accident insurance covered. "Path" is not the distance, but the covering of the path by moving .

Insurance law distinguishes between astray, detour and interruption:

  • A wrong way is when the insured employee leaves his usual way to work in order to take care of private matters (such as refueling , shopping or visiting the doctor ) and then returns to the usual way to work. There is no insurance coverage during this time.
  • Detours are not inconsiderable extensions of the way to work for private reasons, i.e. interfered ways that are not intrinsically related to the way to work, for which insurance cover is also not applicable.
  • Interruptions exist when the employee leaves the commute (street) and for private reasons enters another property or a business premises (newsagent); the insurance cover does not apply here either.

In all cases the employee leaves the usual way to work. The necessary internal connection presupposes that the distance covered is essentially intended to serve the purpose of reaching the place of work or, after the end of the activity, one's own home or another end point of the way from the place of work.

According to Section 8, Paragraph 2, No. 1 of Book VII of the Social Code, the commute to and from work is not only covered by insurance once a day, but, if necessary, several times if this repeated commuting is due to the insured activity and is therefore attributable to it. Accidents on business trips are not commuting accidents, but belong to the occupational accidents.

Tax law

In tax law , the way to work is particularly important for the flat-rate distance allowance provided for in the Income Tax Act (EStG) . Tax law does not count the commute to work as part of the private sphere, but the expenses for transport are taken into account as a flat rate distance between home and first place of work for a distance of one kilometer to commute to work in accordance with Section 9 (1) No. 4 EStG for each working day at 30 cents per kilometer. The flat rate applies regardless of the means of transport used.

commuter

The point at which a worker becomes a commuter is controversial. On the one hand, crossing the border of your place of residence should be sufficient; on the other hand, a commute of 45 minutes or an hour or more ("long-distance commuters") is considered a commuter route.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Renate Rau, On the interaction between work, strain and relaxation , in: Eva Bamberg / Antje Ducki / Anne-Marie Metz (eds.), Health Promotion and Health Management in the Working World, 2011, p. 84
  2. ↑ Antje Flade, Der rastlose Mensch , 2013, p. 76
  3. ↑ BAGE 41,123 BAG; Judgment of December 8, 1982, Az .: 4 AZR 134/80
  4. ^ BAGE 41, 123
  5. ↑ Rabe von Pappenheim (ed.), Lexikon Arbeitsrecht 2018 , 2018, p. 45
  6. ↑ BSGE 88, 247, 248
  7. ^ BSG, judgment of December 9, 2003, Az .: B 2 U 23/03 R
  8. ^ Rabe von Pappenheim (ed.), Lexikon Arbeitsrecht 2018 , 2018, p. 46
  9. ^ Giovanni Costal / Laurie Pickup / Vittorio di Martino, Commuting - A further stressfactor for working people , in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health vol. 60, 1988, pp. 377-385
  10. ↑ Norbert F. Schneider / Ruth Limmer / Kerstin Ruckdeschel, Berufsmobilität und Lebensform , 2002, p. 25