Time Traveling

“I have a couple of non-exempt employees I’m sending to work on a project out of town. What are the rules for paying them?”

My HR Survival Tip

When you have non-exempt (hourly) employees traveling for business you need to consider more than just the time they are working on the project. You must also consider the actual travel time.

When employees are “suffered or permitted to work” they don’t have the option of doing whatever they want due to a work-related situation and you must pay them. Once your employees are free to do whatever they want, you no longer have to pay them. How does this play out during the trip?

It’s not overly complicated but your employees do need to accurately track their time:

When driving or flying, the entire time from when they leave their homes is paid except for the time of their usual commute to your facility from their homes. So if their normal commute is 15 minutes, the clock starts 15 minutes after leaving their homes.
Upon arrival at the destination hotel, the clock stops and it’s unpaid time until they have to report to work or a work-related activity.
While working on the project or attending work-related meetings, they are paid.
Upon return to their hotel, they are unpaid until they have to report again to work.
Once they check out of the hotel to head home, they are on paid time until they arrive at their house… minus their normal 15-minute commute.

I find it’s easier to have employees continue using Pacific Time on time cards while traveling. Your employees will still be subject to overtime if work hours and travel time combined (minus unpaid meal breaks) are over 8 hours in a workday or 40 hours in a workweek. In addition, they must still follow the usual meal and rest break rules.

Don’t just pay non-exempt employees a daily rate while traveling. If you don’t pay them for every minute you legally should, you run a high risk of a claim for unpaid work time. On the upside, you can pay travel time at minimum wage and then pay them their regular wages only while actually doing their job.