Travel time and days off

[djbentz]

I work for a company based in Omaha that is a contractor for the rail roads.We are not a unionized company like the Rail roads.
We work across the counrty in various locations for a period of 21 days or longer. Our general wok week is Monday through Sunday, any where from 6 am to 7 pm. we work atleast 10 hour a day. I am not sure if I am exempt or Non expemt, I get paid for any over time over 40 hours, if that helps. After we work our 21 plus days the company pays for us to fly home for a week or so off. They consider our travel days as off days. Is that legal? I thought that if we were traveling for the company they were supposed to pay for our time.

[ScottB]

If you are a non-exempt employee, and it appears your are, since you get overtime, you should be paid for travel time when you are travelling during your regular hours of work.

If you are non-exempt employee and flying outside your regular hours of work (assuming you are not part of the flight crew), no pay is required. It would be different if your travel time was when you were driving. You would have to be compensated for those hours.

[djbentz]

They like to consider our travel days as part of our days off. Is this legal?
Is there something I could show the boss to get him to pay us for travel days? Can I go back to him for past pay on past travel days?

[DAW]

The following is a federal FSLA regulation.

29 CFR 785.39 - Travel away from home community.

Section Number: 785.39
Section Name: Travel away from home community.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

[djbentz]

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.
Ok, what does this section mean? As I read it an employer does not have to pay for travel time when flying. Is that true?
My question was that if I am reguired to fly home and back to Boise lets say, after working 28 days, are they required to pay my travel time? They consider this to be a day off. IE last thurs we flew home after working M-W. I was paid for M-W but not TH, Then whe we fly back out on the 5th I will not be paid any time until the 6th. When I flew out for the very first time they paid me 8 hours but not for the day we flew back home.
I know that the UP RR does not pay its employees for travel time to the work city.

[DAW]

There is a complication in that most rail road employees are not subject to the FLSA rules at all but rather the Railway Labor Act. This is way outside of my expertise. You might want to try talking to federal DOL directly. The FLSA regulation to my mind is clearly written, but if it is not applicable because of the RLA exception, that will not matter.

[djbentz]

My company is a contractor that does work for the RR. would the same rules and laws apply to us as the rr.
If we do not follow RR ules would they have to pay me for travel time. Every one has beet around the bush but direct answer.