Recently my work has switched over to a shift that requires a person to telecommute in to the office from 7am - 8am and then they come into work an hour later than their normal shift. Instead of 8am - 5pm it is 9am - 5pm or in some cases instead of 9am - 6pm it becomes 10am - 6pm. The normal shift has a standard lunch during that time.

My first question is, what constitutes an exemption of split shift pay? We are paid on salary wages but is there something else that is needed to be exempt? Consider this job to be simple Tech Support or Customer Service.

Secondly, as this is a telecommute instead of actually coming into the office, does split shift count? We are required to answer the phone and work as normal, even though we are not in the office.

I'm sorry if I have not been clear on something, please let me know if more information is required to answer.

Simply being paid a "salary" is not determinative. If your employer breaks down your "salary" to an hourly rate and pays you that rate for each hour worked (prior to incurring overtime) they can call it salary if they want.

To determine if you a properly classified as exempt from overtime we would need to know your job title and what your actual job duties are. Typically, one who performs customer service and support cannot be classified as exempt from overtime. If you are misclassified, you must be paid overtime for any work over 8 hours in day or 40 in a week.

Thus, the real question is, how many hours per day are you actually working, not including drive time and lunch time? If you work 7-8, and 9-5 with an hour for lunch, that is 8 hours.

The beginning work is not likely to be considered a split shift as it is performed at your home rather than having to report to the place of work. Also, if you are making more than minimum wage, the DLSE position as of late is that you would likely not be entitled to split shift pay (even if it was considered a split shift).

The workday is determined by the first and last principle activity that is required by and of a benefit to the employer. Being the OP begins his workday at home, the drive time to the office would be compensible. Hours worked means the time during which an employee is subject to the control of any employer, and includes all of the time the employee is suffered or permitted to work, whether or not required to do so.

Under the 7-8 and 9-5 scenario with an hour lunch, the OP would be entitled to an hour of overtime.

The employees in question are not exempt from OT.
All of the employees get paid more than Min. Wage.

There are two shifts that can happen in this case, but to simplify I will explain one.
The employee would work Out of the office from 7am to 8am. They would then work from 9am-5pm with a 1 hour lunch break in the office. The hour from 8am-9am is not a meal time, just an hour off unpaid.

The total hours worked during the day would still be 8 hours.

In the other cases, the break from 8am-9am is extended to 8am-10am (and the second work period is 10am-6pm

At this point I am still unsure what (if any) should be expected. Are we exempt from Split Shift?
Is there something about a minimum number of two hours an employee has to be paid? Or is that only concerning the second work period?

29 CFR 785.38 - Travel that is all in the day's work.


Time spent by an employee in travel as part of his principal
activity, such as travel from job site to job site during the workday,
must be counted as hours worked. Where an employee is required to report
at a meeting place to receive instructions or to perform other work
there, or to pick up and to carry tools, the travel from the designated
place to the work place is part of the day's work, and must be counted
as hours worked regardless of contract, custom, or practice. If an
employee normally finishes his work on the premises at 5 p.m. and is
sent to another job which he finishes at 8 p.m. and is required to
return to his employer's premises arriving at 9 p.m., all of the time is
working time. However, if the employee goes home instead of returning to
his employer's premises, the travel after 8 p.m. is home-to-work travel
and is not hours worked. (Walling v. Mid-Continent Pipe Line Co., 143 F.
2d 308 (C. A. 10, 1944

Because your workday begins at home and continues when you arrive at the office the total time is compensible. What would not be compensible would be the drive home after work......unless you were required to finish up anything after arriving home. The use of the word home in the section above assumes that not work is done at home. That is not the case in what you described. At the beginning of the day, your home is your first job site.