U.S. Department of Labor
FLSA Hours Worked Advisor
Home-To-Work and Return, Special One-Day Assignment
Different rules apply when your employee regularly works at a fixed location in one city and is given a special one-day assignment in another city.
For example, your employee who works in Washington, D.C., with regular working hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., is given a special assignment in New York City. He or she is instructed to leave Washington, D. C. at 8 a.m. He or she arrives in New York City at 12 noon, ready for work. The special assignment is completed at 3 p.m., and the employee arrives back in Washington, D.C. at 7 p.m.
Such travel cannot be regarded as ordinary home-to-work travel. It was performed for your benefit and at your special request to meet the special needs of the company and the assignment. This type of travel would qualify as a necessary part of the principal activity, which the employee was hired to perform on this particular workday.
However, all the time involved, need not be considered as hours worked. The travel between your employee's home and the airport or other public transportation terminal is normal home-to-work travel and is not hours worked. The balance of the time between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. is hours worked, with the exception of meal periods.
If your employee is driving to complete his or her special assignment, click on the underlined text to determine whether the travel time is hours worked.
To review the regulations, click on the underlined text.
For more information, please contact your local Wage and Hour District Office.
