Can a construction worker who is called upon to travel to about 30 construction sites annually at the request of his employer treat travel to and from his residence to the various sites as being in the course of his employment if his presence at each site is only for a few days or weeks and he may have to move between two sites occasionally at the employer’s request (or may travel at the employer’s request, e.g., visiting a supplier)? CRA responded:
Generally speaking, an employee's usual place of employment is the place where the employee must report for work and receive instructions from the person responsible at the site. An employee may have more than one usual place of work. In this case, the mere fact that an employee reports more frequently to one workplace than to others, does not prevent the other places from also being usual places of employment.
Where an employer has work sites in different places to which an employee must regularly report in the course of the employment, at first sight, we consider that the employee's travel between the employee’s residence and the employer's work sites is of a personal nature. ...
[T]ravel between an employee's residence and his or her usual place of work is not carried out in the performance of the duties of the office or employment, even if the employee is required to travel during working hours to different locations at the request of the employer. ...
However, when an employee leaves his or her residence to go to a place other than the employee’s usual place of work or returns from that place to the employee’s residence, this travel will generally be considered as travel in the performance of the duties of his or her office or employment.