Business trip on Sunday – what is worth knowing?

Sometimes, for various reasons, business trips must take place on Sundays. How should work time be managed in such situations? When are employees entitled to a day off and additional compensation for working on Sundays? Today, we'll examine this issue in the context of business travel. We invite you to read on!

Business trip and working time

A business trip is a one-time, short-term assignment of official duties at the employer's request, conducted outside the regular workplace. Such tasks include, for example, meeting with a client, attending trade fairs, conferences, or training sessions. A business trip typically lasts from a few hours to several days. To determine working time, it is crucial to determine when the employee is actually performing work and when they are merely travelling. In the case of a business trip, travel time (e.g., by train or plane), waiting at the airport, or transferring to a meeting are typically not counted as working hours unless the employee is performing work-related tasks during that time. If the employee is actually working during that time, e.g., preparing a presentation or other documents, it means they are performing work-related tasks.

Sunday on a business trip

If an employee performed work on a Sunday, regardless of the number of hours (1 or 10), the employer is obligated to provide another day off in lieu (up to six days after Sunday). If the employee performs work outside their normal schedule, overtime hours are accrued. In such cases, the employee is entitled to:

• An extra day off,

or

• Additional remuneration.

And when is a day off not due? If the employee:

• He just travelled and didn't perform any duties,
• Sunday was just a travel day,
• Independently, by his own decision, he chose to leave earlier (common when booking online).

It's important to remember that in the above cases, per diem allowances are payable, which are directly regulated by law. Furthermore, if the company doesn't use online travel booking tools, reimbursement for tickets, accommodation, and other services is also required. Companies can eliminate the need to use the employee's personal funds for travel by using dedicated tools like the worktrips.com platform. The entire trip is then planned in a single tool, and the company receives a consolidated invoice for all services. You can read more about this here.

The most common scenarios for working on Sundays

Scenario 1: Sunday = commute only (no work)

• no day off
• allowances and reimbursements are due

Scenario 2: Sunday = work (meeting, trade fair, presentation)

• day off
• remuneration for working hours
• possible overtime

Scenario 3: Sunday = commute + work in progress (emails, documents)

• working hours = time spent performing tasks
• overtime if outside the schedule

Scenario 4: Choosing Sunday Yourself (Out of convenience)

• lack of working time
• no day off

Scenario 5: Choosing Sunday on your own, but forced by the schedule

• full settlement due

Booking your own travel on an online platform and settling your working time

When employees have access to a modern online platform where they can independently plan their business trip, choosing flights, trains, hotels, or even cars, they gain significant flexibility. This allows them to plan their trips to avoid having to work on Sundays, for example, by shifting departure or arrival to weekdays or booking more favourable connections. Such autonomy in booking offers a real opportunity to balance work and personal life, which is especially important for mobile and frequent travelers.

If an employee had the opportunity to choose the date and time of travel on a workday but chose Sunday out of convenience, the business trip is considered a personal choice, not work-related. Conversely, if the employee had to travel on Sunday because work began at 8:00 a.m. on Monday at a distant destination and had no other transportation options, then we count this time as work.

Organization of business trips and work on Sundays - summary

Whether your employees travel for business on Sundays or exclusively on weekdays, the worktrips.com platform is perfect for both situations. It streamlines the travel planning process, enables flexible booking management, allows for quick changes or cancellations, and helps you better control your travel schedule. Employees' Sunday work time tracking, for example, using dedicated apps, significantly simplifies the overall travel billing process and employee pay calculations. Finally, we've summarised some of the most important rules regarding Sunday business travel for you, so you can more easily navigate the regulations and plan your employees' trips more effectively.

1. A business trip ≠ is not considered work unless the employee is performing work-related tasks.
2. Sunday work always = day off, regardless of the number of hours.
3. Self-booking does not take away rights if the employee had no real choice.
4. Overtime should only be charged for work, not travel.

Don't believe an online platform can truly simplify business travel organisation? Give us 15 minutes – during a short consultation, we'll show you how worktrips.com works and why companies using it can't imagine returning to manual travel management.