Compensating Travel Time… Paid or Unpaid?
According to the laws of California Labor, it is expected that all time you invest in work be rewarded whether you be an hourly non-exempt or salaried employee. This also covers travel times for company sake. In this way, the time spent moving from your home to work and vice versa is exempted, as it is regarded as commuting to and from work, hence, there is no compensation. However, time taken for movement based on errands for the company should be rewarded monetarily.
Below are some of the instances where employers are faulted for not paying their employees for travel time:
- Assignment to make deposits at the bank as you leave work to go home.
- Collecting the mail on your way to your work place
- Demanding that an employee’s unpaid lunch time be used driving from place to place at work
- Demanding the presence of employees at the office before formal resumption at off-site locations and considering only time spent off site for their pay
- Having an employee pick up another to bring to work location.
While these points above are often noticed, the following also happen and are just as wrong:
In the case where employees have to drive around and work off site, sales representatives may have their locations varied from day to day. For good service rendering, it is necessary that these employees map out a good plan for the day prior to setting out. At certain times, they might need to access the company from home to find out about relevant details and also submit daily reports. In this case, the right thing is to have the pay start running as soon as the employee starts planning his day and end after his final reports have been sent in.
There are complexities with Labor law. If you need help with some questions about your employment, a Fresno labor law attorney will be of help. In this case, the attorney should be able to understand what you want and are entitled to.
United Employees Law Group is here to assist you and we never charge a fee until we win your case.
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