Drive time stand by time and overtime

[Brett Bagsby]

I am an electrician that travels to various mines, plants, gas stations, and other work sites. I drive a company truck that I take home. My employer just changed the policy for drive time from my normal wage to 12.00/hour. I don't get paid for worksites that are 30 minutes away from my home, but I get 12.00/hr on longer drives from my home. I was in overtime last week and my employer refused to pay overtime for drive time (1.5 x 12/hr). Is drive time considered stand by time or work time? Should I get paid overtime for drive time. I consider drive time "time that I am not able to do what I want with my time" as described in stand by time. Travel is a requirement for my job. If I am not doing what I want with my time and am spending time (and getting paid) traveling to where the work is, I think I should get paid my full rate and overtime should apply. At the very least, anytime over 40 hours is to be paid overtime correct? I never go to my office to check in. I always leave from home.

[Jason758]

If I remember well, I've read some employers guidances from the US Department of Labor. The travel time, when its part of the job (like you) during the work day has to be paid. In contrary the travel time home>work and work>home in the begening and the end of the day is not work time.
I'm not sure about the full rate and overtime part. Maybe you should call a lawyer competent in labor law just to be sure. This is the website of my lawyer. He is established in Geneva most of the time but come back to USA times to times. He is very competent in labor law and defended me several times with sucess in district courts