How does travel time work in employment law?

How does travel time work in employment law?

If the employee travels to the airport to fly to another town, the flight time to and from the location counts, but the drive to the airport does not. If an employee is sent out-of-town multiple days for work, travel time that is outside of their usual work time is counted.

When does an employee have to travel away from home?

Under federal rules, when an employee is required to travel away from home overnight, the travel time that cuts across the employee’s “normal” or “regular” working hours is counted as time worked and should be paid—regardless of whether the travel occurs on a day on which the employee ordinarily works.

When to pay employees for travel time thebalance.com?

An employee drives to work from his home every day. You ask him to stop on his way and pick up bagels for the staff meeting. This driving time is not paid. Time commuting to work is never paid time; the time to stop for the bagels is “incidental” to the commuting and is not part of the employee’s job.

When is travel away from a worksite compensable?

However, whether time traveling away from the worksite beyond the normal workday is compensable depends on: The amount of travel time that is spent traveling away from the worksite; and Whether the employee is required to report back to work or goes directly home from the other location.

When is travel time considered to be work time?

Travel time which is “all in a day’s work” is work time. Usually, this means that travel time is work time if it occurs between when the employee first arrives at the first work site and before the employee leaves the last work site at the end of the work day.

Do you have to pay employees for drive time?

One of the top 10 wage and hour mistakes employers make is related to travel time. Some employers factor drive time out of overtime calculations. Others don’t pay employees for drive time at all. Neither is the correct and legal practice. Employees who travel from job site to job site during a normal day’s work need to be paid for that time.

When is drive time not considered work time?

However, as a general rule, “home to work” and “work to home” travel time is not work time, and this is true even if the “commute” is longer than normal, to or from a different work site than normal, or the employee uses a company vehicle for the trips. This assumes that the employee is performing no other work activities while commuting.

An employee drives to work from his home every day. You ask him to stop on his way and pick up bagels for the staff meeting. This driving time is not paid. Time commuting to work is never paid time; the time to stop for the bagels is “incidental” to the commuting and is not part of the employee’s job.