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Travel Time Pay Rules in California (2024): The Ultimate Guide

Posted January 31, 2020 by lewislaw & filed under Employment Law Articles .

Last Updated:

• January 18, 2024

A comprehensive guide to travel time pay rules in California —when employees are entitled to be paid for travel time and how to recover those lost wages.

Unpaid travel time can exceed over $100,000 in lost wages, interest and penalties.

Find out how much of your travel time should be paid and how you can recover it.

Article Contents:

Section #1: types of travel time that should be paid, types of travel time that should be paid.

• Time when you actually perform work (i.e. sending email, making phone calls, etc.); OR
• Time when you do not actually perform work (and might even be doing personal things like checking the internet, texting and making personal calls), but when your employer exercises enough control over you that the law considers it working time.

When is an employee considered to be "Performing Work"?

Unlike John, however, Mary is required, on her way to work, to drive to a secure storage facility to pick up the tools she will use for that day. On the way home from work, she is required to return to the storage facility to unload the tools, clean them, and make sure they are locked up for the night. 

Mary is entitled to be compensated for the time spent loading, unloading, and cleaning the tools, as well as for the time she spends traveling between the storage facility and company headquarters. This is because these activities add time and exertion beyond what her normal commute would require. In other words, she is performing actual work for her employer during that time.

When is an employee “subject to control” of the employer?

Many legal cases considering whether an employee should be paid for travel time focus on the issue of whether the employee was “subject to the control” of the employer during the travel time. The key question is what does your employer require you to do?

• Does your employer require you to travel to work in a company vehicle?
• Does your employer require to follow certain when traveling to or returning from work each day?

Examples where the employee should be paid for travel time

• When the employer provides transportation to a jobsite (example: a bus) and requires that employees only use that form of transportation to get to work.
• When the employee has already reported to the worksite at the beginning of a shift and then the employer instructs the employee to travel to other locations.
• When the employee is required to engage in overnight travel (for example, if the employee is required to take an airplane to attend a conference in another state, the employee must be compensated for time traveling, as well as time spent checking bags, going through security screening, etc.).

Examples where the employee is not entitled to be paid for travel time

• When the employee is making the normal commute between home and work.
• When the employer provides transportation to a jobsite (example: a bus or company van) but does not require that employees use of that mode of transportation to arrive at the job.
• When, during required overnight travel, the employee takes time to do personal things like go out to dinner, go sight-seeing, or sleep.

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Section #2: When Should You Be Paid For Travel Time?

When should you be paid for travel time.

Travel when overnight stay is required

• Conferences
• Sales meetings
• Continuing education requirements

From the Law:

Travel from one workplace to another in the same day, travel from home to work when there is no fixed workplace, if you are required to report to a work location that is farther away than your normal work location., if you have no fixed job site and are required to travel an unreasonable distance to get to work., travel from home to work in a work vehicle, travel when you work from home (virtual or remote employees).

More than 8 million people now work exclusively from home. In California nearly 6% of workers work from home , a percentage that almost doubles when you look at some locations in the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles areas.

Section #3: How Much Should You Be Paid for Travel Time?

How much should you be paid for travel time.

You must be paid at least minimum wage or your regular hourly rate for travel time.

Employers can pay a lower hourly rate for travel time..

• Provide you notice prior to the travel time.
• Separately track your travel time.
• Separately list your travel time, including the total hours traveled and your travel time rate on each pay stub.

Section #4: How to Calculate Your Travel Time Pay

How to calculate your travel time pay.

Calculating your travel time pay

How to calculate overtime (based on travel hours), reimbursement for travel expenses (mileage), section #5: how to recover your travel time pay, how to recover your travel time pay.

There are strict time limits for recovering your unpaid travel time

Recovering travel time pay while you are still working at the company.

• Discrimination
• Retaliation
• Firing/Termination
• Reduction in Pay
• Reassignment of Position
• Other Adverse Employment Actions

Recovering travel time pay if you do not want to file a lawsuit

Section #6: choosing the right attorney, choosing the right attorney.

Questions You Can Use to Interview Attorneys

• Do you practice employment law?
• What is your level of experience dealing with travel time cases?
• Have you had favorable outcomes? (Most attorneys will be able to answer this question. But they might not be able to tell you how much they have won in these types of cases if there is a confidentiality agreement in place. Attorneys are obligated to keep confidential settlements confidential.)
• What do you think is the best strategy for handling my case keeping in mind my goals? (tell the attorney about your goals for resolving the case)
• How long will it take to resolve my case?
• What is your fee structure?
• What does your fee include and exclude?

After speaking with the attorney, consider the following questions:

• Was the attorney responsive?
• Did the attorney answer your questions?
• Did the attorney inspire confidence in you that he or she knew the subject matter?
• Is the attorney someone you feel you can trust?

Section #7: Hire an Experienced Travel Time Pay Attorney

Hire an experienced travel time pay attorney.

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Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) & Travel Time

General rules.

A. Excluding normal commuting time, employees should be compensated for all travel unless:

• It is overnight; or
• No work is performed.

B. An employer may rearrange the work schedule within the workweek (Sunday – Saturday) to avoid additional compensation hours that may occur because of travel time or compensable commuting time as described below. Whenever possible, the employer and employee should discuss the possibility of rearranging the work schedule prior to departure.

Commute Time

Generally, an employee is not at work until he or she reaches the work site and begins working. A. If the employee is required to report to a meeting place where he or she is to pick up materials, equipment, or other employees, or to receive instructions before traveling to the work site, time is compensable only once the employee reaches the meeting place. If the employee drives a state vehicle, to and from work, he or she does not have to be compensated for that commuting time as long as:

• Driving the vehicle between home and work is strictly voluntary and not a condition of employment;
• The vehicle is a type normally used for commuting;
• The employee incurs no costs for driving the employer’s vehicle or parking it at home; and
• The work sites are within normal commuting area of the employer’s place of business.

Note: Unless there is a contract, custom or practice providing that an employee’s regular daily travel time between home and the workplace is compensable, such travel time is not compensable. If such a contract, custom or practice exists, the travel time is compensable.

Travel During the Workday

Travel as a part of the employee’s principal activity must be counted as hours worked. If the travel is for the benefit of the employer, it is compensable.

• Example: the employee travels from job site to job site during the workday.

B. If the employee runs an errand (i.e., stops at a business or at home) for his or her own convenience, the time traveling to/from that site that adds additional time is not compensable.

• Example: the employee leaves home for the work site but stops at a shop for his or her own convenience.

C. Time spent by the driver in picking up other passengers and transporting them to a specific location is work time and therefore compensable. The time the picked-up passengers spend traveling in the car is also compensable.

Out of Town Travel - Special One Day Assignment

A. If the employee is assigned to work in another city for one (1) day and the travel is performed for the employer’s benefit and at its request, it is part of the principal activity of the employee and therefore is compensable. This is true even if the employee is traveling by common carrier since this is a special assignment and is not ordinary home to work travel. The assignment is performed for the employer’s benefit and at the employer’s special request to meet the needs of the particular and unusual assignment. B. However, in this special one-day assignment, travel time between the employee’s home and the airport or railway station is considered commute time and, therefore, is compensable.

Overnight Travel

Travel that keeps an employee away from home overnight is travel away from home. Travel away from home is work time and is compensable. A. Travel time is compensable regardless of work schedule.

• Example: Employee drives to the airport to attend a seminar and has two co–workers as passengers with him/her. Whether the trip is made during normal workdays/workhours or non-normal workdays/workhours (i.e. Saturday or Sunday for an employee who works Monday through Friday) the travel time is compensable; all three employees are compensated.

B. Time spent at a motel with freedom to use time for the employee’s own purposes is not compensable.

C. Time Zone Changes – If the time zone changes during the travel day, the hours should be calculated based upon “actual” hours when calculating compensable time on travel days. A department may wish to use Central Standard Time (CST) for travel days to assist in determining work hours. Local time should be used for all other days of the travel.

• Example: Employee left Lawrence at 9:00 a.m. CST to travel to the airport and arrived at a hotel in Phoenix at Noon Pacific Standard Time (PST) (which is 2:00 CST). Actual hours of travel are 5 hours (9 am to 2:00 CST).
• Example: Employee left a hotel in San Francisco at 8 a.m. PST (which is 10:00 a.m. CST) to travel to the airport and board a return flight. Employee returns to Lawrence at 1:00 p.m. CST (11:00 p.m. PST). Actual hours of travel are 3 hours (10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. CST).

Additional Resources:

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

University Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Policy

A. When the travel takes place inside or outside the employee’s normal workdays or work hours; the employee is required to be compensated for the travel time to the airport or hotel, regardless of whether the employee is a driver or a passenger. B. The employee is compensated for all required conference events that require the employee to engage in training, attend a meeting, or listen to a speaker. The employee is not compensated for time at social events, meals without speakers or meals when work is not being performed. C. An employer, or the employee with prior approval of the employee’s supervisor, may rearrange the employee’s work schedule within the workweek to avoid additional compensation hours. D. If the time zone changes during the travel day, you will need to count “actual” hours. To determine work hours on travel days, use the Central Standard Time (CST) Zone for both days in order to avoid disadvantaging the employee due to time changes. For non-travel days, use local time.

Travel Example 1 – No Adjustments to Schedules

For this example, the conference began Sunday night at 5:15 pm with a business meeting and ended on Wednesday at Noon. The employee worked his/her normal schedule the days following the conference. No time zone differences.

Total compensation for the day is 8.25 hours (for hours 9:40 am to 6:00 pm).

Total compensation for the day is 8 hours (for hours 8:00 am to Noon and from 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm).

Total compensation for the day is 9.5 hours (for hours 8:30 am – 6:00 pm)

Thursday (back in the office)

Total compensation for the day is 8 hours (for hours 8 am to 5 pm).

Friday (Back in office)

Total compensation for the week is 49.75 hours (i.e., 40 hours at regular time and 9.75 hours at compensatory time earned at the time and a half rate, i.e., 9.75 x 1.5 = 14.25).

Travel Example 2 - Adjusted Work Schedule

For this example, the supervisor has informed the employee that any hours incurred that may result in extra compensation will be adjusted in the remaining workweek. The supervisor has determined the employee should leave early on Thursday and not work on Friday. The conference began Sunday night at 5:15 pm with a business meeting and ended on Wednesday at Noon. No time zone differences.

Total compensation for the day is 8 hours (for hours 8:30 am to 4:30 pm).

Thursday (Back in Office)

Total compensation for the day is 6.25 hours (for hours 8 am to 3:15 pm). No leave is reported.

Friday (No work performed)

Total compensation for the day is 0 hours .

Total compensation for the week is 40.00 hours.

Travel Example 3 – Time Zone Change

Sunday (travel day, so using cst)..

For this example, the employee’s workstation is in Lawrence, Kansas (CST) and the conference is located in Oakland, CA, which is in the PST time zone (i.e., 2 hours earlier). The conference began Sunday night at 5:15 pm (PST) with a business meeting and ended on Tuesday at Noon (PST).

Actual times shown are CST [PST is shown in brackets]

Total compensation for the day is 8.25 hours (for hours 9:40 am to 6:00 pm CST).

Actual times shown are PST as “local” time.

Tuesday (Travel day, so using CST)

Total compensation for the day is 9.5 hours (for hours 10:30 am – 8:00 pm CST).

Total compensation for the 3 days (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday) is 25.75 hours.

FLSA and Travel Time Guidelines for Overtime Eligible Employees (Effective: 05/21/2017)The University of Kansas, Human Resources, Carruth-O’Leary Hall, Room 103, 1246 West Campus Road, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-4946 (voice), 785-864-5790 (fax), [email protected] (email).

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Under the FLSA, when must nonexempt employees be paid for travel time?

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations require employers to pay for travel time in some circumstances. Generally, time spent traveling is compensable, unless it is normal home-to-work commute time, or when travel requires an overnight stay and the time spent traveling as a passenger falls outside of the employee's normal work hours.

When pay is required, the time spent traveling is considered hours worked and must be included when determining overtime pay obligations. 

Home-to-work travel. Normal commuting time to an employee's regular worksite is not treated as hours worked under the FLSA.

Home to work on a special one-day assignment in another city . When an employee must travel out of town for work but returns home the same day, all the time spent traveling during the day is compensable, regardless of the employee's regular work hours. However, an employer may deduct the time the employee would have spent commuting to his or her regular work location.

Travel that is all in a day's work. Time spent traveling to and from different worksites during the day is work time and must be paid.

Travel away from home. When travel requires an overnight stay, any time traveling as a passenger that falls within the employee's normal work hours is compensable, regardless of what day of the week the travel takes place. Time spent traveling to an airport terminal or train station is considered commute time and is not treated as hours worked, but the time spent waiting at the terminal until arrival at the destination is compensable when it falls during normal work hours.

For example, if Meg normally works Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and she is required to travel by plane on a Sunday for business in another state, her travel time on Sunday between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. is compensable.

So, if Meg arrives at the airport on Sunday at 3 p.m. and at her destination at 8 p.m., the employer is required to pay her only from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., the hours that correspond with her normally scheduled work hours.

Alternatively, if Meg drives herself or others at the direction of the employer rather than traveling as a passenger, all the time spent driving is compensable work time, regardless of Meg's normal work hours.

Driving at the direction of the employer . When employees are required to drive themselves or others, all driving time is compensable. However, when an employee is traveling to an overnight stay and has the option to use public transportation (i.e., airplane, train, bus, etc.) but chooses to drive his or her own vehicle instead, the employer can either choose to pay for all time spent traveling or pay only the travel time that occurs during normal work hours, regardless of what day of the week the employee travels (CFR 785.40). If an employee volunteers to drive others in his or her own vehicle to the overnight stay, an employee's time could be unpaid for those travel hours outside the normal work hours.

Worked performed while traveling. An employee must be paid for any time he or she is performing work. This includes time spent working during travel as a passenger that would otherwise be non-compensable.

For example, Meg normally works Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. She arrives at the airport on Sunday at 3 p.m. and at her destination at 8 p.m. Generally, the employer is required to pay her only from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.; however, if Meg works on a presentation during her flight until 6:30 p.m., her employer would need to pay her from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Some states have travel-time laws that are more generous than the federal FLSA.  

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A worker who travels from home to work and returns to his or her home at the end of the workday is engaged in ordinary home-to-work travel which is a normal incident of employment. Normal travel from home to work and return at the end of the workday is not work time. This is true whether the employee works at a fixed location or at a different location each day. For live-in workers, home-to-work travel that is typically unpaid does not apply in this case because the employee begins and ends his or her workday at the same home in which he or she resides.

Travel that is all in a day's work, however, is considered hours worked and must be paid.

Example : Barbara is a personal care aide providing assistance to Mr. Jones. Barbara drives him to the Post Office and grocery store during the workday. Barbara is working and the travel time must be paid. Travel away from the home is clearly work time when it cuts across the employee's workday. The employee is merely substituting travel for other duties. Thus, if an employee hired to provide home care services to an individual (consumer) accompanies that consumer on travel away from home, the employee must be paid for all time spent traveling during the employee's regular working hours. As an enforcement policy, WHD will not consider as work time the time the employee spends as a passenger on an airplane, train, boat, bus or automobile when in travel away from home outside of regular working hours. However, the employee must be paid for all hours engaged in work or "engaged to wait" while on travel. For example, an employee who is required to travel as a passenger with the consumer "as an assistant or helper" and is expected to perform services as needed is working even though traveling outside of the employee's regular work hours. However, periods where the employee is completely relieved from duty, which are long enough to enable him or her to use the time effectively for his or her own purposes, are not hours worked and need not be compensated.

Example : John is a personal attendant for Mrs. Brown, who lives in Atlanta. Mrs. Brown attends a conference in New York City and John accompanies her by plane. John normally works 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. Mrs. Brown's daughter takes her to the airport where they meet John for the flight at 6:00 pm. WHD will not consider the flight time as compensable hours because it is time spent in travel away from home outside of regular working hours as a passenger on an airplane if John is completely relieved from duty. If John provides assistance to Mrs. Brown while at the airport or during the flight or must be available to assist or help as needed, he is working and must be compensated for this time.

Direct care workers who are employed by a third-party employer : Such an employee who travels from home to work and returns to his or her home at the end of the workday is engaged in ordinary home-to-work travel that is not compensable work time. However, travel from job site to job site during the workday, such as travel between several clients during the workday, is compensable hours worked. The third-party employer is responsible for ensuring that travel time from job site to job site is paid.