I aI am a receptionist, full time and I am hourly. I have a meeting to attend 2 &½ -3 hours north of our town. The meeting starts at 9:15 am and is scheduled to end at 4:00pm. My employer has notified me that a hotel will not be given and it is company policy to never pay travel time outside the regular 8 hour day. Is this legal? Can they make people drive for hours and not pay them for it? I have heard that the law requires employers to pay the regular hourly rate to anyone that must drive outside there normal commute time for work purposes. If it is mandatory to pay and my company refuses, can I legally get fired for not going ?

Here is the federal regulation regarding travel "away from home" for a single day. Generally speaking, it says that when the travel occurs all in one day, that all travel time is compensable.
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_785/29CFR785.37.htm