Should you get paid for travel time?

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Whether you are a frequent corporate traveler or a travel manager, you will be acutely aware of the amount of travel time that can rack up. But what constitutes travel time, and what is exempt or regarded as commuting? It can be a minefield to navigate so many possible scenarios both as an employer and an employee. Plus, the legislation regarding what should count as compensable work time varies between locations. To try and break it down, we run through the most common questions asked by business travelers and travel managers. COVID travel program What counts as commuting vs. compensable travel time? Businesses define commuting as an employee's journey to and from their home to their usual place of work.

As companies cannot deduct any expenses incurred from commuting with the IRS, as a general rule, the expectation is that organizations do not need to support their staff with their commuting time. However, there are exemptions. For Special Data example; If an employee has to come to the office outside of their usual working hours to handle an emergency, the employer must cover overtime pay and expenses. If employees are required to take group transportation from one work location to another job site, this time must be paid for or fall under their usual work hours. What is incidental time? An example of incidental time is asking an employee to pick up business-related supplies on their way into the office. In this scenario, the extra time incurred would be considered incidental and classed under commute time. As such, it would technically not need to be covered by the company.



However, it is worth bearing in mind that if the employee conducts this same task during a typical day's work, they would be entitled to their regular pay, and therefore this shouldn't be a frequent request from employers. How does the duration of your business trip affect travel time? After establishing a clear distinction between hours spent commuting and travel time, there are still further considerations worth noting regarding the duration of employee travel. Day business trips Even if a business trip is a one-day assignment, travel time still needs to be reimbursed. However, you can deduct the time an employee takes to get to the airport, train station, or another transportation hub from the total. This rule applies even if the journey is longer than their usual to-work travel. For example, San Francisco based employee Megan is traveling to the Los Angeles office for a day to attend a series of meetings. Megan leaves her house at 5 am to catch a flight and returns home at 10 pm that evening.