Travel Time: US

This Travel Time policy explains when your organization has to treat travel as paid working time for non-exempt employees under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the U.S. Department of Labor's travel time rules in 29 C.F.R. Part 785 and related guidance in DOL Fact Sheet #22. It focuses on the real-world scenarios that create the most confusion and risk, like travel to temporary worksites, travel between job locations during the workday, overnight travel, and required off-site training, so employees know what to record and your People team can apply consistent, compliant pay practices.

The History Behind Travel Time Policies in the US

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) left early gaps, so Congress passed the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 after a wave of lawsuits sought Wages for activities that happened around the workday, including travel connected to getting to and from work. That law separated ordinary commuting, which is usually unpaid, and travel that's part of the job.

The U.S. Department of Labor then filled in the details through its "hours worked" regulations at 29 C.F.R. Part 785 and later guidance like Fact Sheet #22. Those rules spelled out the patterns employers still wrestle with: travel between job sites during the day counts as hours worked, special one-day assignments can turn extra travel into paid time, and overnight travel is generally paid when it cuts across a non-exempt employee's normal working hours. Courts also pushed the conversation forward in cases like IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez (2005), which reinforced that once a employee starts a principal activity, time that is integral to the work and occurs after that point can be compensable, and that framing influenced how employers think about travel that's tied to required tasks like loading gear or picking up supplies.

Business travel also changed, and the law did not. Field service, construction, healthcare, and retail all leaned harder on multi-site scheduling, pop-up locations, and on-call coverage, and remote work made "home" a more common starting point for the day. That mix created payroll risk because a manager can treat the same trip as paid in one team and unpaid in another. Employers started adopting travel time policies as a best practice to keep pay decisions consistent with the FLSA framework and the DOL's travel-time rules.

Which Law is this Travel Time Policy Meant to Comply With?

If you create and distribute a Travel Time Policy for your US-based employees, you should ensure it complies with FLSA regulations on hours worked (29 CFR Part 785) and the US Department of Labor's guidance on Hours Worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act (WHD Fact Sheet #22).

How to Write a US-Specific Travel Time Policy

• Start with "why" and introduce the concept.
• Define that ordinary commuting to and from an employee's regular worksite is unpaid.
• State that non-exempt employees are paid for certain work-related travel time.
• Cover travel to temporary or off-site locations by paying the portion that exceeds the employee's normal commute.
• Include paid time for travel tasks like picking up supplies and loading or unloading equipment.
• Cover travel that occurs after reporting to the regular worksite by paying travel between worksites during the workday.
• Cover overnight or out-of-town travel by paying travel that occurs during normal working hours and paying time spent working.
• Exclude personal time during travel, such as sleeping, meals, and other non-work activities.
• Cover required off-site training and special assignments by treating related travel time as work time.
• Require employees to record travel time in your organization's timekeeping system.
• Tell employees to ask for guidance when they are unsure whether travel time is paid.

When to Include this Policy in Your Employee Handbook

The law does not require you to publish a policy or issue a specific notice. That said, you still have to comply with the requirements that apply to you as an employer. 

You can comply without putting this in your handbook or otherwise publishing it to employees, but including it usually pays off. A short policy helps employees find answers without a ticket to HR, and it helps supervisors handle situations the same way across teams. If you're intentionally keeping your handbook lean, this can live in another easy-to-find policy hub, but make sure employees can actually access it and managers know where to point people. 

Other Considerations

This applies to US employers who have at least 1 employee in the US. It is for non-exempt employees only.

Some states (like CA and NY) have additional requirements around travel time and reimbursement, so check for state-specific requirements.

Exceptions

None.