this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2023
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Work Reform

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[–] newDayRocks@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Paying for commute expense is already a solved problem.

Some examples, a fixed amount based on data provided every month for commute. (200 dollars a month or whatever)

Or if a company wants to be both stingy and generous at the same time, make you expense your gas or public transportation every month up to a certain limit.

It doesn't matter if you move to a different part of town. The cost is negligible to a business.

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The expense half may be cheap, but does the time count as wages? That could be non trivial.

In my case, I leave the house an hour before work, but I have some errands I run. When does my "commute" begin? If I wanted to cheat and bump my pay, drive to a park and ride near work and show up on the bus, which wouldn't be that much longer than normal. Then show my employer the public transit route from my house that would have a 2.5 hour transit time, and claim the extra 3-4 hours as pay.

It's such a tricky gray area. On the one hand it is unfair to lose hours to a commute on your own time, on the other it creates ways to cheat the system that should be difficult to audit, unless I give my employer permission to track me, which seems unreasonable.

[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, we all must suffer because Dave was a slimy fuck and lied about his commute that one time. /s

[–] frezik@midwest.social 3 points 1 year ago

So many good things we decide not to do because Dave might fuck it up.

Or actually, because racism, but we don't want to admit that and blame a hypothetical Dave instead.

[–] newDayRocks@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It is not tricky at all. Again the commuting cost is a solved issue and not even the one discussed in the article.

No one pays you by the hour to commute to work. This is not a thing.

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I admit I'm not paying to read the full article, but that seems to be exactly what the article is saying, does the workday start when you get to work or when you start the commute?

I'll agree I've never heard someone seriously chase commute as work hours, but this article suggests it is a thing, so I was commenting on that context.