新奇事件簿 欧盟规定上下班时间算工作（在线收听）

The European Union has ruled that workers with no fixed office should be paid for travelling to and from their first and last appointments of their day. This could have a huge impact on the payroll expenses of companies across Europe. The European Court of Justice said that the journeys of workers who do not have a fixed place of work, and who travel between their home and their customers’ premises, are to be paid work. This means potentially higher salaries for care workers, sales staff, plumbers, nannies and other company employees who work from home. The court said it was to protect the health and safety of workers and ensure they did not work longer than 48 hours per week.

欧盟规定，雇主应向往返于不同工作地点的员工发放工资。这一裁决将会对全欧洲的公司开支构成巨大影响。欧洲法院称，必须给工作期间没有固定办公室，以及从离开家到客户工作地点的员工发放工资。这就意味着护工、销售人员、水管工、保姆或者其他居家办公的员工会得到更多报酬。法庭称这样做是为了保护员工的安全和健康，保证他们每周的工作时间不多于48小时。

The ruling means that thousands of companies across Europe could be forced to change their business arrangements. Many will have to rearrange the working schedules of employees to ensure that their first and last appointments are near their homes. A British employment lawyer, Chris Tutton, told the BBC that: "Unless bosses adjust working hours or ask employees to opt out of the 48-hour working week, employees could quickly exceed the number of hours they are legally allowed to work. Bosses could therefore soon find that they are operating illegally and be at risk of facing costly claims against them." The ruling does not affect people's daily commute to their normal, fixed place of work.

这项裁决意味着，全欧洲的数千家企业或将被迫改变他们的商业安排。许多公司不得不对员工的工作时间表进行重新安排，保证他们上下班的工作地点靠近住所。英国律师Chris Tutton对BBC称：“除非老板调整工作时间，或是要求员工不再遵循每周48小时的工作制度，否则员工会超过法律规定的工作时间。老板也会很快发现这种违法行为，或将面临高额的索赔。”该裁决并不会对经常到同一个办公地点工作的上班族造成影响。