is travel time considered work time in nyis travel time considered work time in ny

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. There are two types of travel hours when an employee is traveling overnight. "Unauthorized" or "unapproved" work is work and must be counted (provided that the employer knows or should know it is being done and permits you to do it anyway). What about one-day work trips to a different city that do not require an overnight stay do you have to pay an employee for the entire day? As noted above, employees generally will not be compensated for travel time from home to the first work site or from the last work site to home. Need assistance with a specific HR issue? What does "regular rate" of pay mean? For employers with operations in New York State, the New York State Department of Labor has indicated that it interprets the relevant New York Labor Law provisions and accompanying state regulations "in line" with the FLSAs "travel time" rules, but that is not a guarantee that the state and federal laws will always be in congruity. But the employee does have to be paid for all of the time he/she spends at the airport or train station (yes, flight delays and the like will be deemed compensable), and actually traveling between the train station or airport to the other city, regardless of whether or not the travel occurs during the employees regular work hours. In a separate opinion letter, the DOL explained when the travel time of nonexempt foremen and laborers is compensable. With the continuous onslaught of FLSA lawsuits being filed every day, it is important for employers to be familiar with the rules that affect their obligation to pay non-exempt employees. Here are a couple of examples which illustrate the differences between paid and unpaid on-call time: Jennifer is a crisis management (suicide) counselor for a social service agency. Years before OceanGate's submersible craft went missing in the Atlantic Ocean with five people onboard, the company faced several warnings as it prepared for its hallmark mission . Although he could view it anytime, he does so during work hours. Single day out of town travel is considered hours worked and all of the hours from 8 am to 7 pm are compensable, excluding the meal period. How to File a Claim. Units: Above the minimum, managers and supervisors have discretion to set pay rates within the applicable recommended pay band. Both the travel and the conference cut across normal work hours, but the actual conference occurs on days she normally doesn't work. Example 2: An employee travels to multiple work sites during the day. Travel That is All in the Day's Work: Time spent by an employee in travel as part of his/her principal activity, such as travel from job site to job site during the workday, is work time and must be counted as hours worked. However, some employers and employees have informal or contractual agreements (Collective Bargaining Agreements) which require a set number of hours be considered hours worked. Unpaid/Withheld Wages and Wage Supplements. answering e-mails, business related discussions, or taking business related phone calls) must be counted as hours worked and paid at the employees regular rate. "Voluntary" work is work, and the time must be counted. An employee may not bring a lawsuit if he or she has been paid back wages under the supervision of Wage-Hour or if the Secretary of Labor has already filed suit to recover the wages. For example, multiyear estimates released in consecutive years consist mostly of overlapping years and shared data. DOL Explains When Employees Must Be Paid for Travel Time I am on duty for 36 hours at a time, but am allowed to sleep during that time. I am a construction worker. What if the employee uses a company car do you have to pay for the employees commuting time then? } However, any work he does outside work hours is work time for which he must be paid. Although he could view it anytime, he does so during work hours. Commutes are not considered work time for which workers are entitled to pay. Labor and Employment: FAQs About Employee Travel Time - Is It Compensable. A nurse uses her education funds for a webinar that isn't directly related to her job but has continuing-education units that can go toward her licensure requirement. PDF Overtime Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Department of Labor Mean commuting time is calculated by dividing the aggregate travel time to work for all workers (in minutes) by the total number of workers, 16-years old and older, who commute (ACS 5-year variables B08013_001E from table B08013 and B08012_001E from table B08012, respectively).Multiyear estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS) are "period" estimates derived from a data sample collected over a period of time, as opposed to "point-in-time" estimates such as those from past decennial censuses. My boss has asked me to attend a training seminar this weekend at a local hotel. Lectures, Meetings, and Training Programs: This time must be counted as work time unless it is outside of normal hours, it is voluntary, it is not job related, and no other work is concurrently performed. If you are required to be on duty for more than 24 hours at a time, you and your employer may agree to exclude eight hours per day as sleep and meal periods, for which you are not paid, as long as your employer furnishes adequate sleeping facilities and you can usually enjoy an uninterrupted night's sleep. 3. Travel Time | U.S. Department of Labor The wage and hour rules are not necessarily the same from state to state, so it is always important to be mindful of any state-specific laws that could affect an employers obligation to pay its non-exempt employees. Laborers may choose to drive directly to the job site or drive to the principal place of business and then ride to the job site with the foremen. Average Travel Time to Work by Census Tract - New York City The employer offers the employee the option of air travel, which would require the employee to take a flight departing New York City at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday and arriving in Syracuse at 5:05 p.m. that same day. You cannot waive the right to receive the minimum wage for the work you do; otherwise, employers could routinely exploit desperate employees by asking them to waive all or part of their wages. Whether or not travel in connection with overnight trips is compensable work time generally depends on when the travel occurs. Staff members are allowed a paid work break of up to 15 minutes in each half of the workday. New York Labor and Employment Law Report Blog, Business Restructuring, Creditors' Rights and Bankruptcy, Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation, Tax Assessment, Condemnation & Property Valuation, Sexual and Other Workplace Harassment Training. The 20102014 ACS 5-year estimates share sample data from 2011 through 2014 with the 20112015 ACS 5-year estimates. If the employee is on duty for 24 hours or more, the employer and employee may come to an agreement to exclude 8 hours from the shift. Your state law may have different methods for recovery of unpaid wages, and different remedies to be awarded to those who succeed in proving a violation. The time zone of departure will be used to determine whether travel falls outside of normal work hours. A reputable company is not going to risk legal liability by hiring "volunteers,"-not when you could later sue them for back wages and penalties covering the hours you worked. If your work shift is less than 24 hours, then any time you are allowed to sleep during your shift is considered paid time. In addition, minimum hourly rates for all non-student employees, including temporary employees, must comply with the SU Fair Wage Initiative. Questions Have travel policy questions? DOL's New Opinion Letters Examine Rules on Voluntary Training Time Pay for part-time staff is managed under the same guidelines as for regular full-time employees, with adjustments for reduced work schedule. If the employee is allowed to be on-call at home or elsewhere, this may not be considered work time. In addition to leave time and meal periods, other potential "time not worked" may include some travel time, and sleep time. This rule may seem counterintuitive, but it what is currently required under the law. Please confirm that you want to proceed with deleting bookmark. Recently, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that for logging time, neutral-timekeeping is lawful under the FLSA. To file a complaint for unpaid wages under the FLSA, you may either go to the WHD, which may pursue a complaint on your behalf, or file your own lawsuit in court (which may require you to hire an attorney). The rules on travel hours of work depend on whether an employee is covered by or exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). PDF Do I have to pay for that time? - Home | U.S. Department of Labor If you are a nonexempt employee, covered by the FLSA, most training time is considered work time for which you must be paid. No. Many prevailing wage claims benefit from this personal . My boss knows I do it, and hasn't told me not to do it, because many of us need to work extra time to meet our deadlines. To learn more about your rights with respect to work time, read below: Workers are often confused about what activities are considered "work" for which they must be paid, as opposed to activities for which the employer has no legal obligation to pay the employee. If an employee travels from work site to work site during the workday, then the employee will be compensated for time spent traveling between sites. Reclassification of a staff members position to a lower pay category based on reorganization or budget exigencies where the prospect of accepting a lower rated/lower paying position is an alternative to termination or layoff. 5. If, however, the time the employee spends traveling is during his/her regular work hours, that travel time will generally count as "time worked" even if the travel occurs on a day that the employee would not ordinarily have worked! It sank to the bottom of the . Over a year after the effective date of the New York State Sick Leave Law (SLL), the New York Department of Labor (NYDOL) has formally adopted rules , . Here are some answers to common questions that are often asked with regard to the compensability of time non-exempt employees spend traveling in connection with work. For example, the time the employee spends traveling between two work sites will count as "time worked," just as will the time an employee spends traveling between other places for work-related reasons during his/her work day. Travel time is not considered work while commuting to and from the usual work place. Example #3: If you have questions about compensation or work schedules please contact your Senior Human Resources Business Partneror the Office of Human Resources at 315-443-4042. All training time is work time if it occurs during an employee's regular shift, or if it is required by the employer. An accounting clerk uses his education funds for a webinar directly related to his job but that has no continuing-education component. the ability of the employee to switch shifts. Time Zone Changes If the time zone changes between first point of departure and last point of arrival locations, departure and arrival time should be calculated using the time zone associated with departure. I have been looking for a new job for a long time, but have not yet been successful. Titanic , the biggest steamship in the world at the time, hit an iceberg four days into its first trans-Atlantic voyage in April 1912. Some employees, for example, may "come early" and start working before their shift's official starting time. Farm employees. Missing Submersible: Rescuers Detect 'Underwater - The New York Times Travel Involving an Overnight Stay When employees are required to take a trip by car, plane, train or any public transportation that keeps them away from home overnight, the U.S. Department of Labor considers all time spent in "travel status." The 2 hours from 5 7 pm are considered outside travel hours. In this example, the employee would not be compensated for commuting between home and the train station. Data in this graph are copyrighted. Post-shift work time could also include time spent by an employee performing job-related activities "on the way home," as for example a secretary who drops off the day's mail at the post office or delivers some paperwork to a customer or supplier. This time is not paid time. A nurse uses her employer-provided education funds to take continuing education directly related to her job off hours, though she could view the on-demand webinar anytime. Commuting or home to work travel refers to the time an employee spends traveling from their home to their place of work. In addition, all time you spend performing work-related activities that the employer permits is work time, whether on your employer's premises or not, and whether "required" or not. This not only includes your regular "on-the-clock" work time, but also includes any "off-the-clock" time you spend performing job-related activities which benefit your employer. Fact Sheet #53 - Home | U.S. Department of Labor But the DOL added that the employer could establish a policy prohibiting such viewing during regular work hours. If her employer chooses not to pay her for the other two hours spent riding as a passenger, it is a technical violation of the law, but not something that the Department of Labor will file a lawsuit against her employer to recover. If the employee must travel on an overnight trip, referred to as travel away from home community, and the timing of the travel occurs during their regular work hours, the travel then counts as time worked.. 4. Build a Morning News Digest: Easy, Custom Content, Free! The wage and hour rules are not necessarily the same from state to state, so it is always important to be mindful of any state-specific laws that could affect an employers obligation to pay its non-exempt employees. This time counts as work time and must be included in pay computations, provided only that the employer knew or should have known that the employee was beginning work early (and, of course, to the extent that the employee spent pre-shift time actually performing work activities). Please send your feedback to webfeedback@rfsuny.org. On-Call Time: If being on-call requires the employee to remain on the employers premises, this is considered work time. If the employee has more freedom while on-call, it is often not counted as hours worked, but if the employee is under more restricted conditions while being on-call (such as the employee being burdened with calls from the employer preventing personal use of the time), it may be counted as hours worked. When employees are required to travel away from their homes and that travel spans more than one workday, an employer must include in hours worked the time actually spent traveling, e.g., in a car or on airplane or train, only if it occurs during the employee's normal work hours. New York with regular working hours from 9 am to 5 pm may be given a special assignment in New York City with instructions to take the 8 am train. HR 4Sight; . I have been thinking about volunteering to work for a company for free for thirty days. In the first scenario, the job site is local. With only a few exceptions, all time an employee is required to be at the premises of the employer is work time. For further information, please contact the agency in your state which handles wage and hour/labor standards violations, listed on our site's state government agencies page. The Portal-to-Portal Act, amended the FLSA in the 1940's, and clarified many aspects of what is considered work time. 6. If the employee is not offered the option of using public transportation and is required to drive himself or herself, the entire time spent driving is compensable. Excluded employment: The services of certain employees are not covered under the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Law. Whether or not travel in connection with overnight trips is compensable work time generally depends on when the travel occurs. WHD Minimum Wage and Overtime Pay for Direct Care Workers For Agencies and Other Employers For Agencies and Other Employers Effective January 1, 2015, direct care workers employed by agencies and other third-party employers are entitled to receive at least the federal minimum wage and overtime pay. 5. An exempt part-time job should be assigned to the appropriate job category as if it were a full-time job. Employees must receive uninterrupted meal periods, and employees are not allowed to work through meal periods to make up lost work time or to leave work early. The shortcut to this page is gsa.gov/mileage. Supervisors, managers and department heads, in consultation with the Office of Human Resources, have the discretion to reduce a staff members pay in the case of: In addition, supervisors, managers and department heads, in consultation with the Office of Human Resources, have the discretion to freeze a staff members pay for an appropriate period or mitigate the reduction in combination with some period of pay freeze. Some states also have such a requirement. (1) Travel to and from the actual place of performance of the principal activity the employee is employed to perform; or (2) Activities that are undertaken before or after the employee's principal work activity. As an enforcement policy the Division will not consider as work time that time spent in travel away from home outside of regular working hours as a passenger on an airplane, train, boat, bus, or automobile. Travel Time Reporting for Non-Exempt Employees - rfsuny.org Three Scenarios and DOL's Opinion Letter FLSA 2018-18 If additional facts showed that the webinar corresponded to courses offered by independent bona fide institutions of learning, the time spent watching the webinar might not be considered compensable. FAQs About Employee Travel Time Is It Compensable?