Travel Time: Ten Critical Rules
Nonexempt Employees Travel Time Pay
When does an employer pay a nonexempt employee for travel time? At first this appears to be a simple issue. Unfortunately, it is complex. The Department of Labor has not provided clear guidance on some points. The best way to look at some basic rules and illustrate them with particular fact scenarios.
Consider Betty. Betty is a nonexempt employee at the XYZ Child Care Center in Dallas, Texas. She also lives in Dallas. Betty’s normal workday is 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday. Betty’s employer requires her to attend training seminars to meet staff training requirements imposed on the Center by state law. Her normal commute time is one hour, one-half hour each way. Assume the training is the type for which a nonexempt employee must be paid. To understand what training time must be paid, please see the paper in this Library by Stanley P. Santire titled “Paid Training Time.”
Rule #1: Generally, the normal commute from home to work and back again is not paid time no matter what the distance may be.
Travel situation #1: Assume that Betty normally drives to and from work at the Center, though sometimes she takes a bus or walks. Whatever means she chooses, it is normal commute time and not compensated no matter when or how she does it. Even if she arrives late and is therefore commuting during work hours, the commute time is not compensated and her pay begins when she clocks in and ends when she clocks out. Furthermore, if she goes to work for a special project at the Center on a non-work day, she is still commuting and her travel time is not paid.
Rule #2: Generally commuting from home to another work site in the same city, even if it is not the normal work site, is treated the same as commuting between home and the normal work site.
Travel situation #2: Assume that instead of commuting to work, Betty drives from home to attend a training session someplace other then the Center though still in the Dallas area. Afterward, she drives home or someplace else for her own private purpose such as shopping. All of her driving is commute time and need not be paid.
Rule #3: Any travel by a nonexempt employee for the employer after the employee arrives at the first worksite is payable time.
Travel situation #3: Assume that Betty goes to the Center to do some work and from there she drives to a training session in the Dallas area. After the training she drives home. The Center does not need to pay her for the drive from home to the Center or for the drive from the training to her home. However, the driving time from the Center to the training would be compensated. The point is that once she is at the workplace, the clock for paid time begins.
Rule #4: For an employee who regularly works at a particular worksite, if a one-day assignment by the employer requires travel to another city the employer must pay the employee for travel time minus normal commute time. If an automobile is the transportation, this rule is limited to what is referred to travel that requires “substantial distance.” The Department of Labor has never clearly defined “substantial distance.” Special note: an employer can deduct normal commute time from payable travel time.
Travel situation #4: Assume that Betty drives from her home in Dallas to Waco for a training session that begins at 9 AM and then drives back to Dallas. Assume also that George, another employee living in Dallas, rides with her to the training at the request of the employer. Waco would be a substantial distance from Dallas. Note that Dallas to Ft. Worth probably would not be a substantial distance because the cities are so interconnected. Travel to Ft. Worth would probably be within commuting distance and need not be compensated. The drive one-way to Waco is one hour and thirty minutes. Betty leaves her home early enough to pick up George. They arrive at 9:00 AM for the training, the beginning of the regularly schedule work time for both. Their travel time to the session in Waco and back to Dallas is a total of three hours. Betty travels one-half hour more than George each way because she has to detour to pick him up, an additional hour. From the total travel time the Center can deduct the regular daily commute time of one hour from both George and Betty. The Center now owes both Betty and George pay for two hours of travel time each; i.e. three hours travel minus one hour of normal commute time. Betty would also be owed one hour for the two detours of one-half hour to pick up George.
Rule #5: Travel time for a one-day assignment on public transportation is payable both during normal work hours and outside of normal working hours. Planes, trains, and busses are public transportation.
Travel situation #5: Assume that Betty goes for training in Houston and uses public transportation. For example, she flies Southwest Airlines from Dallas to Houston and returns the same day. Her plane leaves at 8:30 AM and arrives at 9:30 AM. Her drive to the airport in Dallas is the same as commute time and need not be compensated. Her time flying before 9 AM is compensated even though it occurred during non-work time. Her flight time after 9 AM is paid because it is normal work time. Once she arrives in Houston her travel time to the training site is compensated even if it occurs before 9 AM. Of course, as of 9 AM she is paid whether she is traveling or at the training site. At the end of the training session she goes to the airport and flies back to Dallas. Until she lands in Dallas, she is compensated. Let us assume that she arrived back in Dallas at 6 AM.
So she is entitled to pay for one-half hour prior to 9 AM plus one hour after 5 PM for a total of one and a half hours. Her drive from the Dallas airport to home is normal commute time and not compensated.
Rule #6: If an employer offers public transportation to an employee and the employee asks permission to drive a car instead, the employer has two options. One option is to pay for the driving time. The other option is to pay what would have been owed for travel if the employee had used the public transportation.
Travel situation #6: Assume that Betty prefers to drive from Dallas to Houston for the training even though she could have flown on Southwest. The drive time one way is four hours, a total two way drive of eight hours. Because public transportation was available, her entitlement to compensation is subject to an option by the Center. The Center can choose to pay Betty for the time she spends driving the car or pay her for the time she would have been paid if she had used public transportation. Betty leaves Dallas in her car at 6 AM, arriving at the training session at 10 AM. The session finishes at 4 PM and she leaves Houston for a four-hour drive back home. Remember, her regular shift ends at 5 PM. One option for the Center is to pay her for the time she spent driving, a total of eight hours. Of course, she would have already been entitled to the time from 9 AM to 10 AM. and from 4 to 5 PM. The employer can also deduct one hour for her normal commute time. Therefore this option means paying her an extra five hours in addition to her normal work time. The other option is pay her only for what would have been owed if she had flown on Southwest. From what we saw in situation #5, the Center would probably choose the second option.
Rule #7: An overnight assignment is treated differently from an assignment whereby the assignment and travel can be completed in one day. For an overnight assignment, travel time is not compensated except for the part that occupies normal work time. This is true whether the employee travels by plane, train, bus, or automobile and whether the travel is on a regular work day or a non-work day such as a weekend.
Travel situation #7: Betty is assigned to a training program in New York. Therefore, she must travel to New York on the day before the training date. She drives to the Dallas airport and catches a 7 AM plane, arriving in New York three hours later. Any travel she does before normal working hours, prior to 9 AM Dallas time, is not compensated. Travel time during normal working hours, starting at 9 AM Dallas time, is compensated. She would not be compensated for driving to the airport or for the first two hours of her flight.
Rule #8: If an employee has an overnight assignment and the employer requests that the employee drive, all time spent in driving is considered work time whenever it occurs.
Travel Situation #8: The Center assigns Betty to attend a training session in New York. She is also told to drive there despite the availability of public transportation. The Center would have to pay her for the all time spent driving to New York. The employer would not owe her anything for the time she takes for at least thirty minutes to eat and to sleep.
Rule #9: If an employee has an overnight assignment and the employee asks to drive rather than take public transportation, the employee needs to be paid only for those hours that would have been counted if the employee had used a public conveyance.
Travel situation #9: The Center assigns Betty to attend a training session in New York. Betty wants to do some sight seeing on the way and asks to drive there despite the availability of public transportation. The Center needs to pay Betty only for those hours that would have been counted if Betty had used a public conveyance.
Rule #10: Travel during non-work days is treated the same as travel during regular work days when determining an employee entitlement to compensation.
Travel situation #10: Betty’s typical workweek is Monday through Friday. She travels on a Saturday or Sunday. Her entitlement to pay under the above rules would be calculated the same as if she traveled on a typical workday.