The U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, issued an opinion on what counts as work time under the Fair Labor Standards Act when employees travel to and from work.
The Opinion Letter references the U.S. Portal-to-Portal Act which provides that employers do not need to compensate employees for: (1) walking, riding, or traveling to and from the actual place of performance of the principal activity or activities which [an] employee is employed to perform, and (2) activities which are before or after to the principal activity or activities, which occur either prior to the time on any particular workday at which such employee commences, or subsequent to the time on any particular workday at which he ceases, such principal activity or activities.
The letter goes on to address three scenarios
- Scenario 1: An hourly technician travels by plane from home state to New Orleans on a Sunday for a training class beginning at 8:00 a.m. on Monday at the corporate office. The class generally lasts Monday through Friday, with travel home on Friday after class is over, or, occasionally, on Saturday when Friday flights are not available.
- Scenario 2: An hourly technician travels from home to his or her home office to get a job itinerary and then travels to the customer location. The travel time from home to office varies depending on where the technician lives and can range from 15 minutes to 1 hour or more.
- Scenario 3: Hourly technicians drive from home to multiple different customer locations on any given day.
Scenario 1-
Travel away from the employee’s home community is work time when it crosses the employee’s regular work day. If the employee regularly works 8:30- 5:30, Travel on Sunday between the hours of 8:30 and 5:30 would be compensable.
Scenarios 2 and 3-
An employee does not have to be paid for time spent commuting between home and work, even when the employee works at different job sites. An employee does have to be paid for travel between worksites after arriving at work.
Where an employee must report at a meeting place to receive instructions or to perform other work there, or to pick up and to carry tools, the travel from the designated place to the work place is part of the day’s work and must be counted as hours worked. The use of a company-provided vehicle does not necessarily make an ordinary commute compensable, if the use of the vehicle is within the normal commuting area for the business.
A copy of the Opinion Letter may be accessed by clicking here.
