Regular commute not counted as time worked

I work for a municipality, and my colleagues and I were recently told we would have to travel to satellite offices to work. We were also told we wouldn’t receive compensation for the longer travel time, which can add as many as 15 miles to our commute each way. Since we are hourly, is this policy legal? In the past when we had to work out of the main office, we received extra compensation for the longer travel time. You are right to ask about this issue because hourly employees have to be paid for all the time they work. So the question becomes: Are those extra 15 miles considered time on the clock or just part of your regular commute? If the longer drive is something you do regularly, the extra time might be considered part of your regular commute, and thus wouldn’t be considered time worked. A regular commute is the distance you drive from your home to the office and the reverse at the end of the day. On the other hand, if the longer trip is part of a temporary assignment, you might be able to make the case that the extended commuting time should be on the clock. For more information, call the U.S. Labor Department at 866487-2365. I work for a small business that has engaged in some cost-cutting measures this year. Several months ago a full-time employee resigned, and those in charge hired a part-time employee as a replacement. As a result, my workload has increased. I have been able to quietly document the actual workload increase in tangible ways over the last several months. However, I’m unsure of the best way to approach the boss with this information. I’m a salaried employee, considered “professional” under federal labor guidelines. Can you offer any advice? It’s a great idea to actually document how much more work you have to do. And you could use that to make the case for the company bumping up your pay considerably or for getting some more help. But bear in mind that by law your company has to do neither. In fact, if you truly fall into the category of professional worker, your employer doesn’t even have to pay you overtime when you work more than 40 hours a week. Here are some of the criteria from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Fact Sheet 17D, used to determine if an employee falls into the professional category: “The employee’s primary duty must be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge, defined as work which is predominantly intellectual in character and which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment; the advanced knowledge must be in a field of science or learning; and the advanced knowledge must be customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.” In the pitch to your company, you might be able to make the argument that with the increased workload, you are much more prone to errors, if that is the case. Whatever you choose to highlight, stick to the facts to make your best case, be polite and tell the company what you want it to do. If you are unable to convince your employer that your situation needs remedying, you will have to decide whether it’s worthwhile to stay or if you need to gear up the search for a new job.