Know when your employees’ travel time must be compensated.
When a non-exempt employee travels for work outside of the parameters of a regularly scheduled workday, it’s important to know how to compensate for that time. The Department of Labor provides these guidelines:
Home-to-Work Travel: The employee’s normal commute to and from work is not considered work time.
Special Assignment: When an employee is assigned to work at a different location, the employee must be compensated for travel time that exceeds their regular home-to-work travel time.
Travel Away from Home: When an employee is required to travel and spend the night away from home, this is considered travel away from home. When this time cuts across a regularly scheduled work day, the employee must be compensated. When the time cuts across corresponding hours on non-working days, that time must also be compensated.
For more details, check out the Department of Labor’s fact sheet on the topic.