Call centre workers who are supposed to be ready to start answering phones at 9am should be paid for the 10 minutes it takes them to start up their systems, appeal court judges in The Hague have ruled.

The case was brought by a man who worked for Teleperformance in Zoetermeer. He was required to report to his supervisor 10 minutes before the start of his shift, after which time he was supposed to start up the various systems needed to do the work.

The appeal court ruled that the ’10 minute rule’ was not voluntary and that the man was limited in his ability to spend his time on his own business.

‘That he is not yet productive for Teleperformance during that time, and that Teleperformance is only paid by its client from the moment the worker is on the line, does not alter this,’ the court said.

The call centre has now been ordered to pay him €2,900 to cover the time spent getting ready to answer phones since he joined the firm in September 2016.

Teleperformance, which has some 420,000 workers around the globe, made net profit of €645 million last year.

Thousands of other call centre workers could also benefit from the ruling, experts say.

‘Think about people who have to change their clothes or start up machinery,’ Elly Heemskerk from trade union federation FNV, told broadcaster NOS. ‘Getting changed is also part of the job.’