When is employee travel time compensable under FLSA?

Normal home-to-work commuting is never compensable, but travel between job sites during the workday always is. 

Overall, it depends on the type of travel. Everything else falls on a spectrum defined by the FLSA and the Portal-to-Portal Act. The same employee can have some paid and some unpaid travel within the same week. This regulation mostly applies to non-exempt employees.

Scenario-by-scenario breakdown

• Normal home-to-work commute: not compensable. The Portal-to-Portal Act excludes ordinary commuting, even when it is lengthy.
• Travel between job sites during the workday: compensable. Once the workday starts, travel between assignments is part of principal activities (29 CFR 785).
• Same-day out-of-town travel: compensable, minus the time equivalent of the normal commute. Example: normal commute 30 minutes, same-day trip takes 2 hours each way, so the compensable travel = 1.5 hours each way.
• Overnight travel during normal work hours: compensable, even on weekends and holidays. Employees who normally work 9 to 5 get travel time during those hours on a Saturday as compensable.
• Overnight travel outside normal work hours as passenger: not compensable when the employee is free to relax
• Overnight travel outside normal work hours when driving: compensable, and driving is always work
• Using a company vehicle for normal commute: not compensable. The vehicle alone does not make commuting compensable.
• Travel to mandatory training: compensable, treated as a work assignment

Common mistakes

• Misclassifying between exempt and non-exempt employees when this regulation mostly applies to non-exempt ones
• Counting paid-but-not-worked holiday or PTO hours toward the 40-hour overtime threshold (only actual hours worked count)
• Failing to deduct the normal commute equivalent on out-of-town travel, which over-credits travel time
• Assuming company vehicle use makes commutes compensable. The Portal-to-Portal Act still applies.
• Not tracking overnight travel by normal-work-hour blocks. The Saturday and Sunday rule catches many employers off guard.
• Using just the federal framework and ignoring state rules: California counts all employer-controlled travel as hours worked, which can exceed the federal standard. 

For a federal framework that they can use as a starting point, companies typically look at the DOL Fact Sheet #22. 

Disclaimer:

This article informs. It does not advise on the law. State laws may go beyond the federal rule. California is one example.

TL;DR

• Normal commuting is never paid. Travel between job sites during the day always is. Same-day out-of-town travel is paid minus the normal commute time.
• Overnight travel is paid during normal work hours (even weekends), not paid outside those hours as a passenger, and always paid when driving.
• Company vehicle alone does not make commutes compensable. Travel to mandatory training is always paid. California has stricter rules.