I am a hourly employee in Colorado. Occassionally, I have to travel out of state for business meetings and most of these meetings are on the weekend. Currently, my boss is only paying me for the hours I am in the meeting itself. Should I be getting paid for the "meet and greet" dinner receptions? Should I be getting paid for my travel time?

Example: I have a flight leaving at 3:00pm MST on Friday. It arrives at 4:30pm PST. I then take company sponsored transporation to the hotel. I have a Reception & Dinner (meet & greet) from 7 - 9pm. On Saturday, I have a breakfast (meet & greet) from 8:30 - 9:45am and the meeting from 9:45 - 3:00 pm. I then have a flight leaving at 6:30pm PST and arriving at 9:45pm MST.

In this example, I am currently getting paid for only 5.25 hours! This is so frustrating because I would be working my normal hours if it weren't for the work-related travel & meeting! HELP!

If the company is requiring you to be at a function (one of those "meet and greets") that is work time and it should be paid. It makes no difference if the company also had to pay for the meal you ate.

Your travel time as a passenger should be paid for the portion of the travel that is within your normal work day. Outside that, the company is not required to pay you for being a passenger.

Travel per se is legally very different then other types of hours worked. Lets say that Bob normally worked 7-4 (1 hr lunch) Mon-Fri. Under federal rules, if Bob travels during his normal business hours on any day of the week, it is hours worked. If Bob travels outside of his normal business hours, it is not hours worked. I am not talking about "fair" or "just" or "company policy". I am talking about an actual federal regulation that spells out the travel time rules. If you do not like this rule and many people do not, please complain to George Bush, not me.
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_785/29CFR785.39.htm

Now the "meet and greet"does not fall under the travel rules and as described by you is normal vanilla hours worked. However, there is a big difference between doing a "meet and greet" because your boss told you to and going bar hopping with a customer because you think it might help. The first is hours worked, and the second probably is not. I actually had an employee file a wage claim for bar hopping, and that wage claim failed. If your boss tells you to do something, you are most of the way to hours worked (travel time is an exception because the governments says it is an exception).

Based on your response, I should be paid for the flight on Friday because it's during normal hours. However, I should not be paid for the flight back on Saturday because it's a late evening flight and not because it's on the weekend. Is that correct?

More information: 1 - The meetings & travel are not organized by our company but the sponsor of our projects so it is virtually impossible to get travel during business hours. 2 - My boss prefers not to pay overtime and prefers that I "flex" my time the week of the meeting.

Can you make suggestions so that I don't end up short in my week's hours because I'm not in the office but traveling for work?

Based on your response, I should be paid for the flight on Friday because it's during normal hours. However, I should not be paid for the flight back on Saturday because it's a late evening flight and not because it's on the weekend. Is that correct?

Yes, the law does not require you to be paid as a passenger outside your normal work hours.:confused:

More information: 1 - The meetings & travel are not organized by our company but the sponsor of our projects so it is virtually impossible to get travel during business hours.

I don't see that it matters who sets up the travel times. It would be annoying, but not illegal, for the employer to arrange all travel outside normal work hours. That the times are arranged by the sponsor changes nothing.

2 - My boss prefers not to pay overtime and prefers that I "flex" my time the week of the meeting.

I am not sure exactly what that means. If you mean that he wants you to not work earlier in the week so that the weekend work won't put you into overtime, that would be legal.

Can you make suggestions so that I don't end up short in my week's hours because I'm not in the office but traveling for work?

Nope. You get paid for hours worked. Travel time may or may not be that. Mandatory functions are work time. Optional ones are not. I don't think it is a great practice to penalize an employee by paying them less to go off on a business trip than they would make by staying in the office, but it is not illegal to do so.

Thanks for the (frustrating) info!