It is extremely important that we compensate employees correctly when traveling. The explanations and examples below are based on the Fair Labor Standards Act, the legislation which outlines how employees should be compensated and what is considered time worked. Violations of the FLSA could result in steep fines from the Division of Wage and Hours.
What is considered time worked while traveling?
- Any time spent traveling during an employee's normal work hours.
- For overnight assignments, time spent traveling beyond an employee's normal work time is considered time worked only if the employee is the driver or is required to perform work while traveling. Any time spent as a passenger outside of normal work time (whether in a car, plane, etc.) is not time worked.
- For one-day assignments, all travel before, during, or after normal working hours is considered time worked.
- All time spent doing work-related activities between traveling to and from the travel destination. Examples of work-related activities include attending conference sessions, presenting a session, setting up or tearing down a booth, or occupying a booth.
- Free time is an employee's own time and not considered time worked.
- Activities that are considered optional are not considered time worked. Examples of optional activities include lunch (even if provided by the conference), evening social or networking events, etc.
How do we compensate employees who travel?
- Non-exempt employees who travel must be compensated for all time considered work, per the guidelines above. If the time worked totals over 40 hours for the given week, they must be paid overtime, as they would if it were time worked in the office.
- When given appropriate advance notice (one calendar week), non-exempt employees' schedules may be changed to accommodate the trip time, requiring them to reduce the number of hours worked at the end of the week to account for the extra time considered work during the beginning of the week. Again, this must be done within a given week and cannot be flexed or “comped” for another week.
- If not given appropriate notice, the employee must be paid overtime for the additional hours considered time worked, but the employee may, at his/her request, be allowed to reduce the hours later in the week to account for the extra time worked.
- Exempt employees do not have to be given extra compensation for time worked over 40 hours due to travel. At the discretion of the supervisor, though, they may be allowed to take time off to compensate for the extra time. For fairness and equity with non-exempt employees, it is suggested that this be done within the same work week. Remember that exempt employees are expected to work a minimum of 40 hours per week, though, and any granting of time off when travel causes extra time worked is purely at the discretion of the supervisor and should only be done when the employee consistently puts in additional time over 40 hours.
Local travel for work:
Local travel follows the same rules:
- If an employee is sent on an errand during work time, the time spent traveling is considered work time.
- If an employee must travel between business locations during the course of his/her day, that travel is considered time worked. For example, if the employee spends the morning at one location, and must report to a second location for the afternoon following his/her lunch, the time spent traveling to the second location is work time. If his/her lunch is from 12-1, then they should begin travel to the second location at 1:00, upon completion of the lunch shift. If they are required to be on site at the second location at 1:00, then the lunch period should begin at a time that would allow the full hour (or half-hour) lunch, followed by the necessary travel time.
