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One of the areas of wage and hour law which often creates confusion is payment for travel time. The rules are different, for example, depending on how long the employee is away from home, and whether the employee is driving or taking public transportation. The below list provides a set of helpful practical rules that are gleaned directly from the Department of Labor’s fact sheet on the subject.
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Ordinary travel between home and work is not compensable time, even if the work location changes periodically within the same commuting area.
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If an employee is traveling to a different city (outside normal commute) and back again in one day, you must compensate the employee for all travel time during that day.
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If an employee arrives at any work location, and then travels to another site as part of their work duties, the travel must be counted as work time.
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Travel that keeps an employee away from home overnight is treated differently. The employer must normally only pay for travel time which occurs during normal work hours (even if on a weekend).
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Keep in mind that the above rule for overnight travel only applies if the employee travels as a passenger. If the employee drives himself, or any coworkers, consult your legal counsel on whether the trip is compensable.
Lastly, keep in mind that the Department of Labor does not have a hard and fast rule on the dividing line between a “long commute” and “travel.” The agency and courts look at what is reasonable. For example, giving an employee an assignment in a distant suburb of a metropolitan area is likely not considered travel, but asking a rural employee to travel 50-60 miles to another town may be travel (even if the trip between towns is quicker because of traffic). Also, never forget that state laws may be more expansive than federal law in this area, and legal counsel should always be consulted before drafting any policies in this area.