新奇事件簿 欧盟新规上下班时间算工作

The European Union has ruled that workers with no fixed¹ 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 payroll² 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’ premises³, are to be paid work. This means potentially higher salaries for care workers, sales staff, plumbers⁴, 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。欧盟最高法庭称，对于工作期间不得不往返于不同地点，以及从离开家到客户工作地点的员工发放工资。这就意味着护工人员、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 opt⁵ 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 costly⁶ claims against them." The ruling does not affect people's daily commute⁷ 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。英国律师克里斯·涂铎对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。

1 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

2 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

3 premises   

n.建筑物，房屋

参考例句：

• According to the rules,no alcohol can be consumed on the premises.按照规定，场内不准饮酒。
• All repairs are done on the premises and not put out.全部修缮都在家里进行，不用送到外面去做。

4 plumbers   

n.管子工，水暖工( plumber的名词复数 )；[美][口]（防止泄密的）堵漏人员

参考例句：

• Plumbers charge by the hour for their work. 水管工人的工作是以小时收费的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Plumbers, carpenters, and other workmen finished the new house quickly. 管道工、木工及其他工匠很快完成了这幢新房子。 来自辞典例句

5 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

6 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

7 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。