A young doctor is criticized by her employer for playing on her Nintendo Switch during her commute. But what is actually allowed and what is not on the way to work?
In a highly discussed post on Reddit, a young woman explains that she works as a resident doctor in a hospital. However, her employer has a problem: She plays on her Nintendo Switch during her commute to and from work. She explains:
The reason given was that as a doctor, I must maintain a certain level of professionalism even outside the hospital. It was said that patients might see me and think that I do not take my job seriously and that I am too immature.
She explains that she is uncertain about what she is allowed to do and what she is not. However, many users comment under her post: The employer should not interfere with her commute. More importantly, she should get such accusations in writing so that she has something to counter against her employer.
Your employer does not get to decide how and in what way you come to work
Can my employer dictate what I do during my commute? No, in principle, your employer cannot interfere with what you do during your commute or how you come to work. The commute (or obligation time) is legally a special category, as it is neither working time nor leisure time. This has already been established by the Federal Labor Court (BAG, Az. 5 AZR 427/17).
Therefore, the employer has little say in what you do there and how you come to work. You only need to ensure that you can appear at the workplace on time and ready to work:
- In principle, you are free to decide how you come to work: Whether you walk, ride a bike, drive a car, or even use public transportation. This is explained by Peter Meyer, a specialist lawyer for labor law, in a dpa statement, which is also available to Süddeutsche.
- However, there are important exceptions: If you do not have a fixed workplace but go directly from home to the first customer and back home from the last customer, the journey to and from work is considered working time according to the Federal Labor Court’s decision (BAG, Az. 5 AZR 292/08).
- Another exception: During on-call duty, the employee usually remains within the company or in immediate proximity and must be ready to resume work at any time. This is explained by Allrecht.de.
- The employer cannot issue detailed behavioral guidelines for the commute as long as you arrive at the workplace on time and ready to work. This is explained by Till Bender from the legal protection department of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) in a conversation with the Rheinische Post.
- There are restrictions if your behavior during the commute may impair your ability to work, such as consuming alcohol or arriving completely exhausted when you have to perform a critical operation. The employer can address this.
- From an insurance standpoint, the direct route to work is considered protected (statutory accident insurance, via BMAS.de), but private detours or actions can compromise this protection.
- The employer has no directive authority regarding activities during the commute because the time is not working time and there is no immediate activity for the employer.
It looks different when one endangers the company’s reputation during leisure activities, such as making racist comments on social networks or significantly impairing one’s performance through such engagements. Then sanctions up to termination can occur (via ra-pavel.de)
The cost of living has been rising sharply for many months. The Generation Z is also affected by this. For many, it goes as far as to reject job offers because they feel financially unstable enough to take on a new job up front or to be able to do so: Part of Generation Z is forced to reject jobs for one reason: They cannot afford the costs of uniforms and travel
