Human Resource Blog

Non-Exempt Employee Traveling

We have an hourly employee who will be traveling for the next 2 weeks with the owner of the company.

Is there a number of hours we are required to pay him per day while he is traveling?

Thank you-

No, there is no set minimum number of hours that the employee must be paid for. This is a deceptively complex topic, but we will try to simplify it. Under the federal FLSA or Fair Labor Standards Act, the employee is entitled to payment for all time spent working. So if the employee works a trade show from noon to 10 pm, he must be paid for 10 hours of work.

In addition, the employee must be paid for any travel that takes place during the employees normal work hours. Suppose Ted usually works 8 am to 5 pm. If he is on a plane, train, in a car or bus during those hours – even as a passenger — he must be paid for that time. So if the group takes a taxi from the hotel to a restaurant for breakfast at 8:10 am, Ted must be paid for the time spent in the taxi. If Ted is sitting in an airport waiting for a plane during those hours, he must be paid for that time. Even if the travel time occurs on a Saturday or Sunday when Ted is normally off, he must be paid for any travel that occurs during his normal work hours.

In addition, travel time outside the employees normal work hours may be compensable time. For example, an employee who drives a car is working and is entitled to payment — even if that travel is outside the employees normal work hours. This is true, even if the employee is driving his or her own car. However, an employee who is a passenger in a car outside the employees normal work hours is not entitled to payment. (We told you it was complicated.)

The best practice would be to pay the employee for his or her normal work schedule, plus any additional travel or work time, plus overtime.

Read more about this at: http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/traveltime.htm  and http://www.dol.gov/compliance/topics/wages-other-travel.htm

Also be aware that some state minimum wage laws have different standards for travel time.