By Dana Peterson and David Rosenberg
In today’s increasingly mobile workplace, employers often require their non-exempt employees to head out of the office for such things as client meetings, off-site events and training. Understanding when you must pay employees when they’re on the move might help you avoid a train wreck down the road (pun intended.)
The basics. If you’ve been following our blog with any regularity, the following should come as no surprise: when determining whether travel time is compensable, the applicable California and federal standards differ quite a bit. For instance, federal law defines “hours worked” as: (a) all time during which an employee is required to be on duty or be on the premises or workplace of the employer, and (b) all time during which an employee is “suffered or permitted to work,” whether or not the employee is required to do so.
By contrast, California defines the term “hours worked” as “the time during which an employee is subject to the control of an employer, and includes all time the employee is suffered or permitted to work, whether or not required to do so.” I.W.C. Wage Orders, Section 2 (emphasis added). Therefore, employees must be compensated for time that they are “subject to the control” of the employer, even if they are not “suffered or permitted to work” during that time.
Enough with the legal jargon, when do I need to pay for travel time?
Continue Reading When Hitting the Road is Hitting your Pocketbook: Travel Time Rules in California