5 questions concerning employee pay while traveling

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), most travel time by nonexempt (hourly) employees counts as working time for which they must be paid. The FLSA addresses three general types of travel:

• During a normal workday,

• To another city in the same day, and

• Overnight travel to another city.

Seems simple enough, right? But, much confusion remains over when employees are required to be paid for travel time. This article outlines some of the most common questions regarding employee pay while on the road.

1. When must employees be paid for overnight travel?

In most cases, when employees travel either during or outside of regular working hours for business purposes, the time should be considered as working time (and compensable time). This includes any time spent waiting in the airport and during any work performed at the destination.

The FLSA, however, does have a provision that when employees are passengers (such as on a plane) outside of their normal working hours, the time as a passenger does not need to be paid. Be aware that “normal working hours” cover all seven days of the week. If employees regularly work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, the travel time during these hours is worktime on Saturday and Sunday, as well.

Bear in mind that if employees are working during the time as passengers (reading emails, preparing for a presentation, etc.), they must be paid for the time spent working even while

being passengers.

2. How do we account for changes in time zone?

The above principles of overnight travel still apply. When accounting for the time zone, you would calculate the hours spent traveling as though the employee didn’t change time zones at all. For example, if the employee left Detroit at 8 a.m. on Monday, traveled for 15 hours,

and landed in China with the time being noon on Tuesday (appearing to be 28 hours), you would only calculate the time traveled as 15 hours.

3. What counts as paid time when employees report to job sites directly from home?

The FLSA does not require you to pay employees for their normal home-to-work commute time. However, when an employee’s travel is longer than the ordinary commute, you may have to count the additional

travel time as working time.

The regulations use the term “substantial distance” to evaluate paid travel beyond an ordinary commute, but the regulations do not define this term. As a best practice, consider paying for any additional time beyond the employee’s normal home-to-work commute. For example, if an employee normally spends 20 minutes commuting, but the employee must drive two hours to an alternate worksite, you

would pay for the extra 1 hour and 40 minutes beyond the employee’s usual commute.

4. Must we pay an employee his or her regular hourly rate for travel?

While you may pay employees their regular hourly rate for travel time, the FLSA allows you to pay a lower hourly rate for non-productive work, as long as the employee earns at least minimum wage. You are required to inform the employee of the reduced hourly rate for the travel time prior to the employee traveling.

5. Are employees entitled to overtime for traveling?

Hours worked as travel time are not specifically subject to overtime on their own, but if an employee’s hours exceed 40 during the workweek, overtime is due for any hours over 40.

For example, if the employee worked more than 40 hours for the week, only the hours over 40 would be paid as overtime, regardless of how many hours were dedicated to travel time.