U.S. Department of Labor
FLSA Hours Worked Advisor
Travel That is All in a Day's Work
Time you spend traveling as part of your principal activity, including performing job-related work prior to getting to the work site and traveling between job sites during the workday, is hours worked. This would be the case whether you travel as part of your principal activity on a regular basis or only infrequently. The time spent in this type of travel is part of the day's work, and must be counted as hours worked regardless of contract, custom, or practice.
For example:
- Construction workers are often required to report at a designated meeting place where they are given instructions, pick up tools or supplies, or perform other work prior to traveling to the work site. The travel from the designated meeting place to the work site is part of the day's work, and must be counted as hours worked.
- Time spent traveling from customer to customer by a plumber who makes house calls to do repairs is hours worked.
- A computer technician who finished his or her work on the premises at 5 p.m. is then sent to a client's site to perform technical support on the client’s system. The computer technician finishes at the client's site at 8 p.m., and then returns to his or her employer's premises arriving at 9 p.m. All of the time (from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.) is hours worked.
However, if the technician went home instead of returning to the employer's premises, the travel time after 8 p.m. is not hours worked. The time after 8 p.m. is normal home-to-work travel.
To review normal home-to-work travel or suffer or permit to work, click on underlined text.
For more information, please contact your local Wage and Hour District Office.
