HUMAN RESOURCES & BENEFITS INFORMATION

FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT (FLSA)

COMPENSATION FOR TRAVEL TIME

Coverage

All cities are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S.C.A. §201-219). However, some employees are “exempt” from the overtime provisions of the Act. For more information determining “exempt” vs. “non-exempt” status under the FLSA, see FLSA: Determining Exempt vs. Non-Exempt Status.

* * The following information applies only to non-exempt positions * *

Home to Work Travel

Generally, travel from home to work is not work time, no matter how long the commute. The following examples are exceptions to this rule:

                        Travel from home to work after hours: An employee who has gone home after completing her day’s work is called out at night to travel a “substantial distance” to perform an emergency job for one of her employer’s customers. All time spent on such travel is working time. When travel is not a “substantial distance” the Department of Labor takes no position on the compensability of home to work travel for emergency calls. “Substantial distance” is not defined and therefore the matter is left for the parties to negotiate.

                        Special one day assignment in another city: An employee who regularly works at a fixed location in one city is given a special 1-day assignment in another city. Because such travel is performed for the employer’s benefit and at the employer’s request, such travel time is considered work time. Regular home to work travel time and meal period can be deducted.

Overnight Travel Away From Home

Travel away from home is work time when it cuts across the employee’s work day. The time to be considered is not only hours worked on regular working days during normal working hours, but also during the corresponding hours on non-working days.

Example: If an employee regularly works from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, the travel time during these hours is work time on Saturday and Sunday as well as on the other days. Thus, if travel is overnight and done outside of working hours, the travel time is not compensable.

Note: The Wage and Hour Division will not consider as work time that time spent in travel away from home outside of regular working hours (remember to count regular hours worked when calculating travel done on non-work days – see above example) as a passenger on an airplane, train, boat, bus or automobile. However, all time spent driving an automobile in relation to this Section must be compensated (except as described below).

Public Transportation

If an employee is offered public transportation but requests permission to drive her car instead, the employer may count as hours worked either:

                        the time spent driving the car; or

                        the time he would have had to count as hours worked during working hours if the employee had used the public conveyance.

Work While Traveling

Any work which an employee is required to perform while traveling must be counted as hours worked. An employee who drives a truck, bus, automobile, boat, or airplane, or an employee who is required to ride therein as an assistant or helper, is working while riding. Meal periods and sleep time in adequate facilities furnished by the employer need not be counted.

The following is an example of how work time is calculated

for a non-exempt employee traveling overnight:

John, an employee of the City of Anywhere, MN, attended a meeting for building officials in St. Paul, on a Monday. John’s regular work hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. He is a non-exempt employee. Due to the distance of Anywhere from St. Paul, John drove to St. Paul on Sunday.

Sunday: John left Anywhere in his own car at 3:00 p.m. On his way to St. Paul he stopped at a fast food restaurant from 5:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. to get something to eat. He arrived at his hotel in St. Paul at 7:00 p.m. He called home and then watched a movie on HBO. From 9:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. John reviewed materials to be discussed at the meeting on Monday.

Monday: John arrived at the meeting at 8:30 a.m. The meeting attendees received box lunches at 12:00 noon and ate them during a presentation by a state official. The meeting concluded at 2:30 p.m. John checked his voice mail at work and made calls from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. to resolve a work issue. He ate dinner at the hotel restaurant and was on the road by 6:30 p.m. John arrived home at 10:00 p.m.