Q: I work for a medium-sized California company. I receive a salary, but I’m a nonexempt employee. I travel out of town a few times a month as part of my job, sometimes during my regular work hours, but often outside of my regular work hours.
My friend told me that my salary only pays for my regular working hours, and that I should be paid extra for travel time outside of those regular working hours. I’m not really doing much work when I’m on the plane or riding the Uber to the hotel, so I’m not sure if that’s correct. Am I supposed to be getting paid for time spent outside of working hours traveling for work?
A: Your friend is right. California law requires that employers pay non-exempt employees for all “hours worked,” which includes all time during which an employee is “subject to the control of the employer.”
Compulsory travel time constitutes time during which the employee is subject to the employer’s control. It is considered compensable hours worked, regardless of whether you are free to engage in other personal pursuits while travelling. If your employer requires that you travel out of town to do your job, then the time it takes to travel there is compensable time.
A February 21, 2002 Opinion Letter from the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement describes it this way:
Under state law, if an employer requires an employee to attend an out-of-town business meeting, training session, or any other event, the employer cannot disclaim an obligation to pay for the employee’s time in getting to and from the location of that event. Time spent driving, or as a passenger on an airplane, train, bus, taxi cab or car, or other mode of transport, in traveling to and from this out-of-town event, and time spent waiting to purchase a ticket, check baggage, or get on board, is, under such circumstances, time spent carrying out the employer’s directives, and thus, can only be characterized as time in which the employee is subject to the employer’s control. Such compelled travel time therefore constitutes compensable “hours worked.”
(DLSE Opn. Letter No. 2002.02.21 (2002) p. 3.)
Under California law, your salary only compensates you for your non-overtime hours, which is all work hours up to 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. So assuming that you are working your full 8 hours in a day and 40 hours in a week, any time you spend on work travel outside of your regular work hours should be compensated at your overtime rate.
As a salaried non-exempt employee, you can compute your overtime rate from your regular rate, which is defined under California law as 1/40th of your weekly salary.
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