My work moved office. Why won’t they pay for my travel costs?
The company I work for recently went through a big change. This has affected my role and I am now asked to travel much further each week than I ever did before. This resulted in significant extra travel expenses for me. I somehow asked if I could be refunded (I suggested several options) and was told no. The reason given to me was that if it was done for me, it should be done for others in my situation.
I don’t think this situation will change in the new year. What are my options or rights to remedy the situation where I am actually significantly out of pocket?
My first instinct after reading your question was that this was extremely unfair. After our subsequent correspondence, I felt this was more true.
Your employer has entrusted you with the job of smoothing over some major organizational change. In the process, they asked you to travel further than you once did, entirely at your own expense. The idea that you deserve zero compensation to reflect this new situation is, on its face, absurd.
If you want an air-conditioned running track in your office (like, possibly apocryphally, Mick Jagger did before appearing at Coachella a year ago), “If we do it for you, we should do it for everyone” might be an understandable explanation. But such a thing is ridiculously solipsistic reasoning – or as you kids say, it’s their problem, not yours.
But my own opinion is completely different from the question of what the law says about your situation. I asked employment law expert Joellen Riley Munton and Professor Emerita of the University of Sydney about your concerns.
If they refuse to budge, perhaps now is the time to take your excellent skills and reputation elsewhere.
He said, as always in legal matters, the devil is in the details. And the most important detail in this example is exactly how much travel has increased. If you’re asked to commute from your home to a new location, your options may be limited.
“Businesses that have multiple locations and change staff periodically often encounter problems when employees do not want to work in the new location. The question then becomes: Does the employee’s employment contract contemplate such a move? Otherwise, the employee can claim that their original employment contract has been terminated by the employer. This will allow them to claim payment for a notice period and leave the job.”
If you choose this option, you can claim that the original position has been made redundant and seek payment, Professor Munton said.
“Of course, this isn’t a great solution for the person who wants to keep their job. It doesn’t always work, even for the person who is happy to resign and find something else,” Professor Munton admitted.
“Unfortunately, many employment contracts now expressly require the employee to agree to changes in role and location – particularly if the employer operates from more than one location – so it may be difficult to argue that a change of location is significant enough to amount to termination of employment by the employer.”
Professor Munton said it was different when you were asked to do extra driving during the day. In other words, after your usual morning commute.
“Travel undertaken during the working day is usually undertaken at the employer’s expense. Most employers provide a company-maintained vehicle or travel expenses. An employer who requires an employee to cover their own business travel costs risks falling foul of the Fair Work Act, which prohibits employers from unreasonably requiring employees to spend their own money to cover the employer’s business expenses.”
Still, I hope sanity can prevail here. It seems to me that you have a pretty good relationship with your employer, despite their initial reactions, and are quite respected within the organization.
My advice would be to appeal to the better qualifications of decision makers. The simple facts are that you are being asked to do work that is critical to your company, but you are in a much worse financial situation because of it. Only the most stubborn and narrow-minded employer would justify this.
If they refuse to budge, perhaps now is the time to take your excellent skills and reputation elsewhere. But check your contract first.
Send your questions to Occupational Therapy via email jonathan@theinkbureau.com.au
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Jonathan Rivett is a writer living in Melbourne. He’s been writing about workplace culture and careers for more than a decade.
