This is legal... i have tried to get answers, but not able to find anything.

Please help me...

A little about me.
I am a field tech, which i work from home and return home with a company van. They pay for fuel and maintaince.
They would pay me from the time i leave the house to the time i get home.
Now they have revised the policy and now enforcing a change of pay.
I will still pay me from the time i leave the house to the time i finish my last site. Now i WONT get paid for the travel back home... unless it is an excess of 45mins. Afterwards i will be back on the clock.

That means: if i take one hour to get home...they will only pay 15mins. This is tracked by GPS>

Is this legal.. they want me to sign a acknowledgment letter, but i havent yet.

thanks,
JOHN

They are not required to pay for commuting time at all. They do not owe you any pay from your home to your first call of the day, or from your last call of the day to home. If you are receiving ANY pay for that time, consider yourself lucky.

They are not required to pay for commuting time at all. They do not owe you any pay from your home to your first call of the day, or from your last call of the day to home. If you are receiving ANY pay for that time, consider yourself lucky.

Thanks for the quick response...

is there any legal documentation you can provide me.

thanks

I'm sure Patty or DAW will be able to do so.

http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_785/29CFR785.34.htm

http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_785/29CFR785.34.htm

DAW.. appreciate it...

i'm sorry if i ask so many questions... i'm just trying to cover myself and also understand the law on both sides.

But since i dont report to ONE certain location, like a central office. Does this labor law still apply to me.

Everyday... i expect emails from my office with sites i have to visit to repair their station. This traveling can take me anywhere from NJ to NY to PA all the way down to DE. So everyday i dont have a specific arrival or departing location..

Again.. appreciate all the help..

JOHN

Hard to say. Start with the regulation I referenced (plus the one before it) and page through say 785.4something. These collectively are the federal travel regulations.

The clear intent of the Portal-to-Portal Act is that employers are not required to treat home-to-1st-work-location-and-last-work-location-to-home as hours worked. If a federal exception exists, it is in that 785.33-785.4? range, and the burden of proof is on you to show that the Portal-to-Portal act is not applicable.

This is federal rules only. States can have rules more favorable to the employee. My state (CA) has a few somewhat more favorable rules, but that is supposed to unusual. I have no idea what rules (if any) your state has on this subject.

Hard to say. Start with the regulation I referenced (plus the one before it) and page through say 785.4something. These collectively are the federal travel regulations.

The clear intent of the Portal-to-Portal Act is that employers are not required to treat home-to-1st-work-location-and-last-work-location-to-home as hours worked. If a federal exception exists, it is in that 785.33-785.4? range, and the burden of proof is on you to show that the Portal-to-Portal act is not applicable.

This is federal rules only. States can have rules more favorable to the employee. My state (CA) has a few somewhat more favorable rules, but that is supposed to unusual. I have no idea what rules (if any) your state has on this subject.


oh i see,
by any chance, do you know where i can find state regulations. Hopefully that would be in my favor. I remember reading that there was a case suit in CA on a company call "low jack", where they were not paying their employees travel time to sites and back. At this point, i dont know what the outcome, but i have searched NJ state websites to find sometype of ground. But to my luck nothing has come about.

There are a few employees saying that this is incorrect and the company does have to pay, according to there lawyers. But i cant trust no one... on a decision like this... A acknowledge letter had to be signed and handed in yesterday. I might be written up for this>

Lets see what happens.

JOHN

Any California court decision would not be binding in New Jersey. The NJ DOL website is rather stingy with information. You might be better off calling them.

And my state is CA. I have no idea what the NJ rules are. My understanding is that for the issue of travel time only, almost all states follow the federal rules as written.