Does your job require you to travel to and from different meetings or events? Or does your job require you to meet at a meeting point and take a bus with other workers to a job site before clocking in? If so, you should be getting paid for that time spent traveling to and from those work destinations.
So, in what instances should an employee be paid for their travel time?
- When an employer provide transportation to a jobsite and requires that employees only use that form of transportation to get to work
- When the employee has already reported to the worksite at the beginning of a shift and then is required to travel to other locations
- When the employee has to travel via airplane or train to attend a work-related event
When would an employee not be entitled to pay for travel time?
- When the employee is making a normal commute from home to their workplace
- When an employer provides transportation to a jobsite, but does not require employees to use that form of transportation
Determining whether or not time spent traveling for work should be compensated can be complicated. The circumstances can vary depending on what the employee was doing and what the employer requires and provides.
Paid Travel Time in California
The state of California favors employees by making it much harder for employers to not pay their employees for travel time or time working off the clock. California has some of the strictest worker protection laws in the country.
Opposed to federal law, the California Supreme Court has stated that state law requires employees to be paid for any amount of tine that they are required to be at their place of employment. (Troester v. Starbucks Corp., 9th Cir. (2018). Meanwhile, federal employment law allows companies to deny paying employees for work done in small increments.
Enhance Your Chances of Recovery
Many employees have brought lawsuits against their employers for unpaid travel time. However, it can be difficult as an individual employee to go against a large company or corporation. Many employee lawsuits against employers have a greater chance of success if they are filed as a class action. A class action lawsuit would group together multiple employees who have the same or similar claims of unpaid travel time against the same employer.
Class actions are often more successful because it’s harder for an employer to deny fault when there are multiple claims against them. Class action lawsuits can also save victims court and attorney costs.
If you believe that you are being unfairly treated by your employer, please reach out to an experienced attorney to talk through the details of your claim. Our attorneys at Hariri Law Group are well versed in the rights owed to employees and we can help employers learn how to avoid violating those rights.
Call us for a free consultation regarding your employment law claim. Our experienced attorneys will discuss your rights and the money damages you may be entitled to.
