Every transportation company has to deal with this every month: accounting for hours and paying drivers. In order to keep some control over this, many companies work with corrections, experience rules, target times, maxtimes, standards or norm rules. All different terms for what ultimately leads to the same discussion: is it a matter of (rightly) correcting or (wrongly) standardizing hours?

My cupboard is full of files on collective bargaining inspections by VNB/FNV at transport companies and every time it's the same discussion: may an employer correct hours based on target times? No, says the FNV, that's not allowed; correcting hours based on target times is a standardization regulation and therefore not permitted. Yes, I have been saying for years, it is allowed, provided certain conditions are met and there is a good and clear policy.

Last week the Arnhem-Leeuwaren Court of Appeal[1] also ruled on a similar discussion. And exactly that position which I have been arguing for years, namely that correction based on guidelines is allowed with a clear policy, was confirmed by the court in this ruling. In this case, correction was made using standard hours based on rules of experience. Because the actual hours of service worked were the basis for the wage calculation, it could be concluded that there was no standardization scheme. Also, the employer had a sufficiently clear policy, it was understandable to the driver, and there was sufficient opportunity for justification of hours.

But the other side of the coin was shown two years ago in a ruling by the Court of Appeal of The Hague,[2] which determined that the company in that case did apply a standardization scheme. This company also worked with standard hours that were clear to employees. The company corrected the hours that exceeded the standard hours unless the employee had a good reason for exceeding them in special cases. This practice was not limited to individual cases and the standard hours that had once been based on rules of experience had now become a fixed norm.  Thus, the Court here ruled that there was a standardization scheme that was not permitted.

So that "clear policy" I keep talking about must be in line with the obligations of the collective bargaining agreement. The method of operation based on that policy serves as the basis for determining whether or not there is a standardization scheme. Clear agreements must be made regarding how hours and activities are accounted for and how this is monitored by the employer. There are quite a few requirements for this, resulting in a razor-thin dividing line between rightly correcting and wrongly standardizing.

Would you like to have your organization's method of accounting for hours and wages tested for compliance with the collective bargaining agreement? Please feel free to contact me to discuss the possibilities.

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