Dive Temporary:
- An worker who chooses to telework for a part of the day and work in an workplace for a part of the day, and who has adequate time to carry out private duties in between, need not be compensated for travel time between the 2 places, the U.S. Division of Labor (DOL)’s Wage and Hour Division stated in certainly one of two opinion letters published Dec. 31.
- The letter cited two examples. In a single, the worker leaves the workplace noon to attend a parent-teacher convention and receives permission to do business from home for the rest of the day. Within the different, the worker receives permission to do business from home previous to attending a health care provider’s appointment earlier than working the remainder of the day at her common workplace location.
- Journey time in both situation wouldn’t be compensable time underneath the Truthful Labor Requirements Act (FLSA), in accordance with DOL, as a result of the worker within the situations is both off responsibility or engaged in regular commuting. The journey time additionally wouldn’t rely as compensable “worksite-to-worksite journey,” nor would it not rely as compensable time underneath the FLSA’s steady office doctrine, the company stated.
Dive Perception:
The FLSA specifies that point durations during which coated staff are relieved from responsibility and that are lengthy sufficient to allow the worker to make use of the time “successfully for [the employee’s] personal functions” do not count as hours worked underneath the legislation.
Although journey time “have to be counted as hours labored” underneath the FLSA if the time is a part of an worker’s principal exercise, the worker described within the Dec. 31 letter’s situations “is touring of her personal volition for her personal functions throughout her off-duty time,” DOL stated.
DOL did notice, nonetheless, that some court docket choices analyzing conditions during which staff could also be required to carry out work instantly earlier than commuting to or instantly after commuting from a worksite “could look like on the contrary” of its conclusion. The employer addressed within the opinion letter said that the worker within the situations was not required to carry out her work at any explicit time.
The letter is the most recent in a collection of DOL paperwork weighing in on distant work. Earlier this week, the company printed steering stating that employers could fulfill their posting obligations underneath the FLSA or Household and Medical Depart Act via electronic posting underneath sure circumstances. In August, an company subject help bulletin detailed whether or not an employer should pay staff for work carried out remotely if the employer has rules against doing sure work remotely.
A second opinion letter printed Dec. 31 addressed an employer’s question about overtime payments to caregiver employees who work live-in and prolonged shifts of 24 hours or extra.
