Remote Work and Mobility: Who Covers Travel Expenses?
In this article, we explore how travel expenses should be managed when an employee works remotely and their home is located far from the workplace.
28/09/2026
The rise of remote work has made it increasingly common for an employee’s home and the company’s workplace to be located in different cities, or even different provinces.
This situation raises a question that can lead to disputes: if an employee works several days from home and is required to attend the office on other days, with the office located hundreds of kilometers away, should the company cover the travel expenses?
The answer does not depend solely on distance. It is necessary to examine how the employment relationship has been structured, where the official workplace is located, what has been agreed regarding remote work, and what the applicable collective bargaining agreement establishes.
A recent case highlights travel issues in hybrid work arrangements
A recent ruling by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia addressed precisely this issue.
The case involved an employee living in Vilafranca del Penedès who worked for a company whose workplace was located in Soria. Both parties had agreed to a hybrid work arrangement: two days of remote work from the employee’s home and three days of on-site work in Soria.
The employee made multiple trips between both locations and subsequently claimed more than €3,300 from the company for various travel-related expenses, including mileage, meals, and accommodation.
The court of first instance ruled in favor of the employee, but the High Court of Justice of Catalonia overturned that decision and dismissed the claim.
The key factor was that Soria had been designated as the employee’s workplace and the employee had accepted from the outset that on-site services would be provided there, while maintaining residence in Catalonia was a personal decision. The fact that part of the employee’s working time was performed remotely did not automatically make the employee’s home the reference location for calculating travel allowances or reimbursement of travel expenses.
Remote work and business travel are not necessarily the same thing
This case makes it possible to distinguish between two situations that may appear similar but have very different legal consequences.
On the one hand, there is travel required by the company for business needs. For example, an employee whose regular workplace is in Barcelona may be asked to spend several days at a client’s premises in Madrid. In such cases, legal and collective agreement provisions concerning travel, allowances, and expenses may apply.
On the other hand, there is the journey between the employee’s chosen residence and their regular workplace.
If a person is hired to perform on-site work in a specific city, is aware of that location, and chooses to live elsewhere, the journey to the workplace does not necessarily become a reimbursable business trip simply because the employee works remotely from home on certain days.
Distance alone does not determine who must bear the cost.
What expenses must the company cover when remote work is involved?
Law 10/2021 on Remote Work establishes that remote work-related costs must be covered or compensated by the employer and that employees should not bear expenses associated with the equipment, tools, and resources required to perform their work remotely. Collective bargaining agreements may specify how such expenses are determined and compensated.
This includes, for example, expenses related to the tools and resources required for remote work, as well as any other costs identified in the remote work agreement.
However, this obligation does not mean that every trip from an employee’s home to the workplace must necessarily be paid for by the employer.
These are different matters:
- Costs arising from providing services remotely.
- Costs associated with attending the regular workplace.
- Costs generated by temporary assignments or travel required by the company.
Each of these situations may be treated differently.
The remote work agreement is especially important
Law 10/2021 requires remote work agreements to include several key elements relevant to these situations.
Among other things, the agreement must specify the company workplace to which the employee is assigned and where any on-site portion of the working schedule will be carried out, as well as the remote work location chosen by the employee.
The agreement must also detail the expenses that may arise from remote work, how they will be calculated, and the timing and method of reimbursement.
Therefore, when there is a significant distance between both locations, it is advisable for the agreement to be particularly clear.
What should a company regulate when an employee lives far from the office?
It is not enough simply to state that the employee will work, for example, three days remotely and two days on-site.
When the employee’s residence and workplace are located in different provinces, it is advisable to expressly address issues such as:
1. Reference workplace
It should be clear which workplace the employee is assigned to and where the on-site portion of the working schedule will be carried out.
2. Regular remote work location
The agreement should identify the location from which remote work will be performed.
The agreement should establish which remote work expenses will be reimbursed and through what system.
4. Travel to the office
It is advisable to determine whether the company will cover any expenses associated with attending the workplace, particularly when the distance is significant.
5. Transportation and mileage
If a private vehicle is used for travel that qualifies as business travel, the applicable collective bargaining agreement and any agreed conditions regarding mileage and expenses should be reviewed.
6. Accommodation and meals
If attendance at the workplace requires overnight stays away from home, it should be assessed whether the employee is entitled to accommodation or meal allowances under the collective bargaining agreement, employment contract, or other agreements.
What if the company changes the workplace?
The situation may be different where it is not the employee who chooses to live far from the workplace, but rather the company that changes the location where services must be provided.
In such cases, the rules on geographical mobility under Article 40 of the Spanish Workers’ Statute may apply, particularly if the transfer requires a change of residence.
It is therefore important not to confuse a situation in which an employee voluntarily chooses to live far from the workplace with another where the company decides to transfer or relocate the employee elsewhere.
The legal consequences may differ significantly depending on who makes the decision, whether the arrangement is temporary or permanent, and the specific circumstances involved.
Can the collective bargaining agreement establish rules regarding travel?
Yes. The applicable collective bargaining agreement may establish specific provisions regarding travel allowances, mileage, business travel, meals, or accommodation.
For this reason, before determining whether a particular trip should be reimbursed, it is not enough to rely solely on the Remote Work Law. The applicable collective bargaining agreement and any individually agreed terms must also be reviewed.
Furthermore, collective bargaining agreements may establish specific systems for compensating remote work expenses. Law 10/2021 itself refers to collective bargaining as the mechanism for defining how these costs should be reimbursed or paid.
Remote work from another province: what should employers verify?
In these situations, it is advisable to review together:
- The employment contract, particularly the agreed workplace.
- The remote work agreement, including the percentage of on-site work and the remote work location.
- The applicable collective bargaining agreement, particularly its rules on travel allowances, business trips, mileage, and remote work.
- Who chose the employee’s residence and whether the employer made any commitments regarding travel expenses.
- Whether the journey is to the regular workplace or responds to an exceptional business need.
- Whether there has been a change of workplace that may be subject to geographical mobility regulations.
- Which expenses have been expressly agreed and which relate exclusively to remote work.
This preliminary analysis can prevent what appears to be a straightforward issue from turning into a wage or expense claim.
An issue that should be addressed before implementing hybrid work
Hybrid work offers greater flexibility for both employers and employees, but it also requires organizations to define matters that were previously taken for granted.
When an employee can work from home regardless of where the office is located, the home and the workplace are no longer necessarily the same place. This makes it even more important to determine which journeys arise from business needs and which form part of the employee’s ordinary commute.
The recent ruling of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia highlights precisely this point: partial remote work does not automatically transform the journey between the employee’s chosen residence and workplace into a reimbursable business trip. However, it also does not mean that all travel undertaken by remote workers must always be borne by them. The answer will depend on the specific circumstances and on what is established by legislation, collective bargaining agreements, employment contracts, and remote work agreements.
For this reason, companies implementing hybrid work models should ensure that clear rules are established from the outset as the best way to prevent future disputes.
Do you need advice on mobility, remote work or employee travel?
At Adlanter, we can help you review remote work agreements, analyze obligations arising from collective bargaining agreements, and advise your company on mobility matters, business travel, and other employment law issues related to hybrid working models.
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