The situation
A month’s driver roster with trips, days abroad and allowances
A Spanish refrigerated-transport company from Murcia runs fresh produce to Lyon, Paris and Munich. Its drivers spend much of their time outside Spain, on cross-trade and cabotage loads as well as bilateral runs. A French roadside check found a driver’s documents incomplete, and the HR lead now wants a monthly check of the roster before it is finalised.
The questions are separate but land on the same roster: which days are posted days and paid at least at host-country rates, whether the allowances count towards that pay, and whether driving, breaks, rest and working time stay within the EU limits. The hours go on reading one roster through three sets of rules.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- Posted days carry host-country pay
- For the days a driver is posted, the host country’s mandatory pay rules apply, including minimum rates set by law or by universally applicable collective agreements. In France the road-haulage collective agreement can set rates above the national minimum wage.
- Allowances may not count
- Under the revised Posting of Workers Directive, allowances specific to the posting count towards pay unless they reimburse actual expenses such as travel, board and lodging. If the terms do not say which they are, the whole allowance is treated as reimbursement of expenses.
- Driving and rest limits are EU-wide
- Regulation 561/2006 limits daily and weekly driving, requires a break after four and a half hours of driving, and sets daily and weekly rest. A regular weekly rest may not be taken in the vehicle.
- Working time is a separate limit
- Drivers’ working time, which includes loading, cleaning and paperwork as well as driving, is limited by the road transport working time directive to an average of 48 hours a week, with a maximum of 60 in any single week.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Spanish employer, drivers on cabotage and cross-trade loads in France and Germany for about 12 days a month. A night allowance is paid per night away. For posted days, what minimum pay applies in each country, does the allowance count towards it, and what driving, rest and working-time limits must the roster respect?
You start with
A month’s driver roster with trips, days abroad and allowances
- 01
Upload the roster
Add the month’s roster and the allowance terms from the drivers’ contracts. azta reads them and refers back to the rows it used.
File upload· Pro - 02
Research the rules for each country
Ask what pay applies on posted days in France and Germany and whether the allowances count. azta cites the posting directives, the national law and the EU driving-time rules.
Cited research· Free - 03
Read the limits in the original
Open the cited French and German provisions in the reader, in the original language, with their in-force status.
Atlas statute reader - 04
Draft the roster check
Ask for a check per driver: posted days, pay issue, time issue, action. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro You send
A roster check on posted-day pay, allowances, driving time, rest and working time
What you get
A roster check on posted-day pay, allowances, driving time, rest and working time
Roster check · draft
October roster: pay and time checks
Posted days. Days on cross-trade and cabotage loads in France and Germany are posted days. For each, the driver’s pay must reach at least the host country’s minimum, which in France includes the rates in the road-haulage collective agreement for the driver’s grade.
Allowances. The contracts describe our night allowance as covering accommodation and meals. It is therefore reimbursement of expenses and does not count towards minimum pay on posted days. On that basis six drivers fall below the French minimum and need a top-up.
Time. Two drivers took a regular weekly rest in the cab in Lyon. That is not permitted, and the November roster must plan accommodation for those weekends.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
21 minutes a month
At €80 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 18
- Capacity at your rate
- €1,440
- More monthly roster checks a quarter
- 0.8
- Return on Pro
- 4.4×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoWhat stays with you
- The pay calculation and any top-ups, which stay in your payroll system.
- Reading the tachograph data and the hours actually worked.
- How each breach is put right.
Frequently asked questions
- Does azta calculate the pay due?
- No. It sets out the rules and what counts towards the minimum, with the provisions. The calculation stays in payroll.
- Does it hold the French collective agreement?
- Ask with the agreement named. Where azta does not hold the text, upload it and azta reads it alongside the law.
- Can it read our tachograph reports?
- Upload an exported report, such as a PDF or spreadsheet summary, and azta refers back to the rows it used.
