Travel Time Pay for Employees
When Do You Have to Pay Travel Time for Hourly Employees?Many employees spend their work day at various locations. This could be a field technician who travels from home to the first job site in the morning and goes to multiple sites throughout the day. It could be a home health aide visiting multiple clients. Is travel time considered work time for these employees? As described below, it depends on the circumstances.
Whenever you have employees who don't work at a fixed location, it is important to understand the rules for what counts as hours worked. The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") contains specific rules about travel time. This is known as the Portal to Portal Act. As interpreted by the federal Department of Labor, this provides guidance on how to treat travel time to work and other travel time during the day for compensation purposes. For non-exempt employees, remember that any hours that are compensable work time are also counted for determining if they are entitled to overtime pay. Travel Time to Work is Not Paid TimeWhen an employee travels from home to an office, that is clearly not paid work time. The same is true for an employee who travels from home to the first job site of the day. The time spent traveling from the last job site is also generally not compensable work time.
There are exceptions to this. If the employee has to stop at a central location on the way to or from a job site, travel from the central location to the job site or the job site to the central location is considered work time. Employee Travel During the Day: The Continuous Workday RuleOnce the employee arrives at the central location or first work site, the workday begins. Any travel from site to site within that work day is part of the employee's workday. This is FLSA travel time that must be paid.
Also, if the employee is required to perform tasks related to their principal job activity before leaving for work or after returning from work, that could start the clock on their continuous work day. In that situation, the drive time to work could be considered paid time. In order for this to apply, the tasks must be required to be performed before leaving for work. The tasks must also must be substantial integral to the employee's principal work activity. Checking emails before or after work is likely not sufficient to trigger the continuous workday. Similarly, reviewing the daily schedule to plan trips is likely a de minimus activity that does not extend the time the employee is entitled to be paid for. In contrast, if an employee is required to prepare substantive reports of the day's visits after returning home, this could extend the workday to include the time preparing those reports and the travel time from the last site to home. |
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FLSA and Employee Waiting Time
Sometimes employees who work at multiple sites have periods of time in between work assignments. The answer depends on how much time is involved. If the employee is completely relieved from duty and the break is long enough to enable them to use the time for personal purposes, this might not be considered work hours. This is known as "waiting time" under the FLSA.
Employees Called Back to Work
Another exception is when an employee is called back to work after getting home. This could be for an emergency customer call or some other need that arises. If that occurs, the second travel from home to work for the call is compensable work time.
Different Pay Rates for Travel Time
As long as the employee is paid at least minimum wage under state laws for all hours worked, it is legal to pay a different hourly rate for travel than for the actual delivery of services. This comes up frequently in the home health care field. The employer will be reimbursed for the professional services by the client or the client's insurance company, but not for travel. So they may pay the employee a higher rate for the services than for travel from site to site.
While this is legal, there are some pitfalls. If the employee works more than 40 hours in a week, the overtime pay has to reflect the right blend of hours. For example, if the employee generally spends 10 hours traveling and 40 hours delivering services, their "regular hourly rate" for overtime purposes should reflect a blend of their travel rate and service rate that is proportional. This same logic should apply to computing the amounts for paid sick time or vacation time.
While this is legal, there are some pitfalls. If the employee works more than 40 hours in a week, the overtime pay has to reflect the right blend of hours. For example, if the employee generally spends 10 hours traveling and 40 hours delivering services, their "regular hourly rate" for overtime purposes should reflect a blend of their travel rate and service rate that is proportional. This same logic should apply to computing the amounts for paid sick time or vacation time.
How We Can Help
We can help you navigate these issues and get clarity on your rights and obligations as an employer or an employee. Read more about some example overtime law cases we have handled. You can use the button below to schedule a call back from a member of our team, or give us a call at 781-784-2322.
