Hello again,
Another related question. How do I track my hours for time that I am away from home due to work? I travel, but am hourly. A situation I've not been in before (salaried and exempt in previous organizations). Clearly, the hours that I work and the hours that I travel to work would be counted. But, as an hourly employee I'm unclear about the rest of the time. I would rather be at home -- but am I working? I wouldn't be there if not for work, but do I get paid for my time away from home? It is very unclear to me.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you can offer.

Talulah

I'm a little confused, but it depends on whether the travel is "away from home" (meaning overnight), a one-day trip out of your regular area, or travel that is "all part of the job". Here's those three regulations:
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_785/29CFR785.37.htm
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_785/29CFR785.38.htm
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_785/29CFR785.39.htm

If you have specific questions after reading these regs, please feel free to post back.

Thank you Patty, for your response.

I've quoted the two relevant links below, for anyone who's interested. To clarify, I travel out of town for several days at a time. Lately, I've been going to the east coast which results, with layover, in a more than 8 hour day. I have been claiming all of that travel time as work time.

My question is what about the time that I am not "at work" in the remote location, but not at home either. It sounds silly, perhaps, but when I'm travelling to and from and staying at a hotel I'm not at home (where I'd rather be) but i'm not "working" per se, but I need to be there in order to do my work that day, or the next. This last trip was particularly exhausting. I was gone 9 days, got sick, and ended up being out of the office for two days when I returned. I accrue no sick time so suddenly the travel part of my job is feeling like a burden. I can't live my life remotely away from home, but I'm not getting paid to be gone.... In previous salaried exempt positions, when I travelled I could take comp time to balance out my work week. So I'm seeking clarification on what my rights, if any, are as an hourly employee required to travel for my job.

thank you in advance,
Talulah

"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))"

"Travel that keeps an employee away from home overnight is travel
away from home. Travel away from home is clearly worktime when it cuts
across the employee's workday. The employee is simply substituting
travel for other duties. The time is not only hours worked on regular
working days during normal working hours but also during the
corresponding hours on nonworking days. Thus, if an employee regularly
works from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday through Friday the travel time
during these hours is worktime on Saturday and Sunday as well as on the
other days. Regular meal period time is not counted. As an enforcement
policy the Divisions will not consider as worktime that time spent in
travel away from home outside of regular working hours as a passenger on
an airplane, train, boat, bus, or automobile."

The first quote you cited has to do with travel "all in a day's work", but while in your home community. The second one is what applies to "away from home" as in, overnight. Legally, you only have to be paid for the hours you travel that coincide with your regularly scheduled hours, even if the travel occurs on a nonscheduled work day (assuming you are a passenger when you travel, not the driver of a vehicle). You do not have to be paid for the fact that you "aren't home", if you're sitting in a hotel room. If you've been submitting hours other than that, the employer hasn't questioned it, and has been paying it, consider yourself lucky. That's more than they're required to do under the law.

Thanks Patty,

that helps. Yes, i included both becuase sometimes i'm the driver and sometimes not (car vs. plane).

what you wrote it useful, i appreciate it.

best,
Talulah

No problem, that's what we're here for. :)