U.S. Department of Labor
FLSA Hours Worked Advisor
Medical Examinations
Time spent by your employee seeking medical attention during his or her working hours at your direction or on your premises for work related illness or injuries is hours worked. For example, your employee cuts his or her hand on a machine during working hours and you direct the employee to see the company nurse. The time spent by the employee in waiting for and receiving medical attention from the company nurse is hours worked.
If you instruct your employee to get treatment, you are not required by the FLSA to provide transportation or accompany the employee. However, the time required in travel to and from the place where medical attention is provided is hours worked, if this travel occurs during normal working hours and on a day when the employee is working.
If follow-up medical treatments are required, during normal working hours on days when the employee is working and you instruct your employee to get these treatments, the time spent in travel to and from, waiting for, and receiving the treatments would be hours worked. However, if your employee and the doctor arranged the follow-up medical treatments, but you do not instruct your employee to receive the treatments, the time would not be hours worked, even if you gave him or her permission to take off from work for the doctor’s appointment.
The FLSA does not require an employer to provide employees with sick or personal time off with pay for illnesses or injuries. The terms and conditions for the use of such time off is a private matter for agreement between an employer and the employee or the employee's authorized representative. For more information about time off for sick leave, click on the underlined text.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides certain employees with unpaid, job-protected leave for certain family and medical reasons.
To review the regulations, click on the underlined text.
For more information, please contact your local Wage and Hour District Office or your state department of labor.
