Employers are required to pay for travel between job sites as this constitutes time spent toward helping them meet the company objectives. This travel is different from time spent commuting to and from work, which is considered incidental and, therefore, not subject to remuneration. Other than incidental travel, you are entitled to receiving pay for making local trips and when traveling away from home.

If your employer has breached this legal requirement, there are steps you can take to hold them accountable, and this step begins with understanding labor laws. Stop Unpaid Wages is a firm that serves the whole of California and helps employees understand employment laws and regain their uncompensated benefits.

Labor Laws in California

The California Labor Commissioner's Office aims to ascertain fair compensation in every workplace and advance economic justice through rigorous enactment of labor regulations across the state. This office is also called the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), and they endeavor to have every employee get fair wages and level the field for those employers who adhere to the highest labor standards. Apart from combating wage theft, DLSE enlightens the public on labor laws and their amendments and safeguards employees from reprisal when they stand up for themselves.

Reports indicate that employers habitually contravene labor laws even when they are aware they are acting in bad faith, and if nobody holds them accountable, these practices become ingrained in the organization’s culture. Some of the common ways in which employers violate labor laws are as follows:

  1. Treating staff as exempt from overtime pay

    The federal government categorizes jobs into exempt and non-exempt depending on their nature, and therefore, this decision is not left to your employer's discretion. Non-exempt positions require overtime pay for every hour worked beyond the usual 40 hours per week, and this figure is computed as time and a half. Exempt type of jobs are an advanced executive or expert posts and other narrowly defined positions, and this is where most employers misclassify jobs to save money on overtime.

  2. Enlisting independent contractors and treating them like full-time staff

    The federal government classifies anyone who is instructed on when, where, and how they execute their job as employees of the company and are, therefore, entitled to similar benefits to what regular employees get. The company must also pay your payroll taxes, but news reports indicate companies consistently abuse this directive.

  3. Asking or demanding you to work past regular hours

    Non-exempt staff members are owed overtime pay for every hour they work past business hours, and this includes answering emails or finishing client reports on the business premises or home.

What is the Difference Between Travel Time and Commuting Time?

Commuting time involves moving from your place of residence to your place of work, and this does not fall under business time. You can only start billing your employer after clocking in and commencing to execute your duties and responsibilities. Therefore, it doesn't matter how much time you spend in traffic on your way to work; you could live as close or as far from the office as possible provided you arrive at work promptly.

The Department of Labor (DOL) explains that employees who use company vehicles to commute to work cannot count home-to-work travel as working hours. The situation changes when an employer authorizes a trip to the office, or elsewhere, such as to attend meetings at offsite branches of the company. In this case, it doesn't matter whether an employee travels by company vehicle or finds other means; this sort of travel constitutes work, and hence, you should be paid.

Travel time away from home is yet another scenario where the employee should be compensated as per the terms of their contract or other agreeable terms. Traveling for business falls squarely on-time controlled by your employer, and you cannot do other personal chores during this time. A great example of this is going from Los Angeles to New York for an annual industry conference to represent your boss and company.

Who Pays for Travel Expenses?

Apart from getting paid for making local trips for work or traveling away for a business, being in transit comes with additional expenses that your employer should cater to such as airfares, accommodation, taxi rides, meals, etc. DOL has no requirements for reimbursement for travel expenses, but there is generally an understanding between employers and their staff to refund money spent on business trips.

What is considered a deductible expense may vary from one employer to the next, and the staff member should use their discretion. For instance, if you take advantage of an international trip to bring your spouse or children, you must be clear on which expenses are deductible to the company and which ones are owed to you. Keep a detailed log of your work-related expenses between job sites and collect relevant receipts to support your compensation claim.

Salaried Workers Versus Hourly Employees

Salaried employees are considered exempt, so they are compensated for their expertise – which could constitute attending conferences across the country or internationally. Hourly employees, on the other hand, are considered non-exempt and, therefore, entitled to compensation for the hours they traveled away from home on behalf of their employer.

For example, if your employer asks you to collect items for the office as you head to work, this time should not be paid for, but if you were already at work then sent to collect said things, then you are entitled to compensation. An employee whose contract indicates they are a shared resource between two branches of the same company will commute to execute their duties, so they must be paid as such.

If your employer requires you to travel to different locations during your shift, they should pay for travel time as you are within their control and doing something to their benefit. The same applies to instances where you are called into work due to emergencies and therefore have to stop attending to personal matters. Such travel time should be reimbursed provided you fill out the required documentation like a sign-in log or application for overtime pay.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

As the name suggests, the Fair Labor Standards Act controls wages and business hours in workplaces to protect both employers and employees from exploitation. To this end, the FLSA determines a bare minimum wage and regulates overtime pay, documentation and record-keeping, and employment of youth labor. These regulations apply to federal, state, and local governments as well as the private sector, and anyone found in violation will face legal consequences.

The issue of minimum wage has long been debated upon as economic downturns make it harder to survive with stagnating wages and incomes. Current FLSA rules stipulate that a standard workweek is 40 hours and the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Employers are not mandated to provide vacation time, medical leave, or pay increases to the staff, so they only do this upon their discretion. These federal guidelines notwithstanding, employers must adhere to state and local regulations on working hours and minimum wage.

FSLA laws cover a broad spectrum and therefore apply to almost all employers, but small farms that fulfill specific criteria are exempted. If you get some wages from tips, the FLSA exempts your employer from paying you minimum wage under these circumstances:

  • If you, the staff member, earns at least $30 a month in tips
  • If you make at least $2.13 an hour in direct wages
  • If your employer communicates this arrangement during the hiring
  • If your direct payments and tips add up to the hourly minimum wage and if not, your employer must pay the difference.

Considering these different scenarios, it is vital that employees understand FLSA laws, so they are not taken advantage of by employers who are too eager to violate regulations, so they save money. Knowing your worth per hourly rate or monthly salary helps you determine how much you are owed for travel between job sites.

The Portal-to-Portal Act

This regulation was formulated by Congress to modify FLSA laws concerning handling travel time that should be compensated and requirements for overtime. As per  29 CFR § 785.35, employers should not pay for the time before workers clock in not unless the staff member is summoned to work after their official business hours are complete. Section 29 CFR § 785.36 explains that if the employee is commuting a significant distance to reach where their services are needed, the employer must compensate for this travel time.

Section 29 CFR § 785.38 of the Portal-to-Portal Act requires employers to pay staff for traveling between a central location such as the company offices to the final work destination. For example, a group of employees who are asked to report to the office for a briefing and then deploy to their work must be paid for all of this travel. Nonetheless, time spent traveling from their residence to the office and from the worksite to their home is not factored in this payment.

One-day assignments where a worker is sent to a different city or part of town and returns the same day must be included in their pay. However, this arrangement excludes the time this employee usually spends heading to and from work, as explained in section 29 CFR § 785.37 of this Act. In the same fashion, travel that keeps workers away from home one or more nights will only be compensated as per the regular working schedule. That is, pay for trips that happen between 8 am and 5 pm and not any travel outside this timeframe.

If the employee happens to be working when traveling before or past working hours, they are entitled to pay for the hours worked. For instance, you could be fielding client calls on your way to the airport in the early hours of the morning or working on a client report long after the official working hours. If you were free from this assignment, they would be doing other non-work activities such as running personal errands or spending time with family.

The same compensation plan must apply when an employee is traveling between job sites on a non-workday such as a holiday or weekends. You are owed pay for hours worked between 8 am and 5 pm sans lunchtime as indicated in section 29 CFR § 785.37 of the Portal-to-Portal Act.

In the end, if an employee's time is being controlled by their employer, and they are doing something that benefits their employer, they should be compensated. This Act provides clear guidelines on how employers compute wages and other compensation to workers who are in transit. It is crucial to have a grasp of these regulations in addition to what the Fair Labor Standards Act says about payment for travel between job sites.

Stealing Wages or other Compensation is a Crime

Big or small companies and other institutions are notorious for breaking promises made to staff even when they are contracts in place, and they do so without flinching. Some of the tell-tale signs of this behavior are interns who don't get paid, collecting tips but not receiving supplemental checks, travel expenses that are not reimbursed, etc.

You need to research extensively on your company's compensation policy and see if there are discrepancies with local, state, and federal laws. The next step is having a candid discussion with your supervisor, where you explain how the company is failing to compensate for worked hours. Bravely pointing out the issue may push them to act in your favor and pay back every penny they owe or this move could attract punishment.

The Labor Commissioner's Office is not oblivious to these issues and how they affect workers of all ranks, including immigrants who are even more prone to docked wages. To this end, the labor office launched a multilingual public awareness campaign in 2014 dubbed "Wage Theft is a Crime" to endorse a general understanding of employees' rights and responsibilities of employers. Armed with relevant knowledge of labor laws, anyone who is denied their fair wages is free to challenge such measures.

Can I be Punished for Complaining about Unpaid Travel Wages?

As explained above, stealing wages from an employee is a crime that is punishable by law, but this rule does not stop employers from contravening labor laws. Staff members facing such infringements are understandably afraid of asking for what they are owed, and even when they do, there is poor follow up, so they end up not being paid. There is an ever-present fear of retaliation through demotion, firing, or harassment at work, but the law prohibits employers from engaging in such actions toward workers pursuing what is rightfully theirs.

The FLSA categorically provides that it is "unlawful for any person ... to discharge or in any other manner discriminate against any employee because such employee has filed any complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this Act." Any employer who retaliates is lending themselves to fines and perhaps criminal prosecution, and after ensuing legal proceedings, the victim will be compensated accordingly, including covering their legal fees and reinstated as the case may be.

These anti-retaliation laws are meant to promote inviting environments where workers are free to air grievances without fear of economic retaliation or other forms of punishment. To ensure employees are adequately covered, this law covers a wide range of retaliation actions including but not limited to, the following:

  • Assigning employees to unpopular shifts or tasks at work
  • Fewer performance appraisals
  • Disciplining staff out of proportion to their errors
  • Firing their friends or relatives
  • Screening applicants who filed FLSA claims
  • Diminished job responsibilities
  • Refusal to recommend "normal" pay increments
  • Unfounded criminal charges
  • Causing immigration problems

Unfortunately, not all hostile actions can be deemed unlawful even if they are triggered by a supervisor's displeasure about you reporting labor violations such as unpaid wages. Your manager could blatantly ignore you at work or make bad comments, or result in sheer pettiness to make your workday less bearable. When this happens, consider reporting this improper behavior and if things don't cool down, record such instances for future reference.

How Can I File a Workers’ Retaliation Complaint?

If your employer is withholding wages between work sites and you have taken measures to enforce your rights, your employer may result in unsavory actions as explained above. Allowing this behavior to prevail is a disservice to yourself and other employees who may be treated this way. Whatever methods your employer is using to retaliate, you can file a complaint by contacting the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement Retaliation Complaint Investigation Unit.

The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) asks you to file a complaint within six months from when these negative consequences became apparent to you. Provide relevant documentation to back this claim, and only send copies and retain original documents for your safekeeping.

Find an Los Angeles Wage and Hour Attorney Near Me

Employers routinely deny wages for all sorts of wrong reasons, and travel time between job sites is common. Your immigration status or other concerns notwithstanding, Stop Unpaid Wages is well-versed with state and national labor regulations, and we have a proven track record of winning such cases. Do not suffer in silence, reach us today at 424-781-8411 so we can wage a legal battle on your behalf and put an end to this injustice.