Q. What if a non-exempt employee truly volunteers his/her time on a weekend to participate in a campus clean-up program (non-exempt duties) or a ticket taker at homecoming? Are these hours non-compensable? Similar, situation, a weekend event and a storage room was locked. The only employee with a key was non-exempt and she was called on a Saturday night to drive in and open the door then leave. Was any of the time (incling travel time) compensable?

A. In both cases, it depends. Employee civic and charitable work may be non-compensable if all of the following factors are present:

• The employee offers his or her services freely, with no pressure or coercion, direct or implied.
• The work is conducted completely outside of the employee's regular working hours.
• The work is performed with no promise or expectation of compensation.
• The work is of a different type than the employee's paid work. 

So, to take the example of the campus cleanup program, suppose the program takes place on a Saturday afternoon and employee participation is completely voluntary. Bob normally works as an administrative assistant in the Dean's office Monday through Friday. So long as he clearly understands that he won't be paid and is not being pressured to participate, his work for the campus clean-up program could likely be treated as unpaid. However, Sally, who works as a groundskeeper, would likely have to be paid if the campus clean-up work is comparable to her usual job duties. Likewise, James, who works in food service on Saturday afternoons, would likely have to be paid because the program occurs during his regular working hours. 

In the second scenario, the primary issue is not whether the employee's time at work is compensable, but whether she is entitled to pay for her travel time. Normally an employee's time commuting from home to work and back is not compensable. However, when an employee is called out after hours to return to their regular worksite, the DOL's regulations say that it "takes no position" as to whether the travel time must be paid:

There may be instances when travel from home to work is overtime. For example, if an employee who has gone home after completing his day's work is subsequently called out at night to travel a substantial distance to perform an emergency job for one of his employer's customers all time spent on such travel is working time. The Divisions are taking no position on whether travel to the job and back home by an employee who receives an emergency call outside of his regular hours to report back to his regular place of business to do a job is working time.

As a practical matter, if this is really a one-off scenario the amount of money at issue is likely minimal. If the employee has to commute a substantial distance, it might be worth paying her as a sign of appreciation for disrupting her weekend. However, if the employee lives five minutes from campus or if offering pay in this situation would lead to abuse (like friends frequently forgetting their keys), there seems to be little legal risk in taking the position that the time is not compensable.

 General Rules Applicable to All Travel Time

• Ordinary commuting time from home to work and work to home is not considered hours worked unless the employee is required to perform work or tasks for the employer during the commute.
• Work performed while traveling, regardless of when the travel occurs, is considered hours worked.
• Even if the employee is required to travel overnight for the employer, sleep time is never counted as hours worked.

 Same Day, In-Town Travel

• If an employee spends time traveling as part of their principal work activity, such as travel from job site to job site during the workday, all time spent traveling during the employee’s normal workday is considered hours worked, except the employee’s commute to and from work. 
• Time spent commuting from home to an alternate work location within reasonable proximity to the office is not considered hours worked.  However, if the alternate work location is not within reasonable proximity to the employee’s home and the associated travel requires additional time, effort, or cost, the travel time may be considered hours worked. 

Special One Day Assignment in Another City

• This scenario arises when an employee who regularly works at a fixed location in one city is given a special one day assignment in another city and returns home the same day.
• All time spent by an employee traveling to and from the other city is considered hours worked, whether or not the travel occurs during the employee’s normal work hours.
• The employer may deduct/not count that time the employee would normally spend commuting to the regular work site.

Overnight Travel

• Generally speaking, travel time that occurs during an employee’s normal work hours— even if such travel occurs outside of the regular work week (e.g., Saturday and Sunday) — is considered hours worked.
• Time spent as a passenger of an airplane, train, boat, bus or automobile outside of regular working hours will not be considered hours worked.
• Travel time spent by an employee driving a vehicle, regardless of whether the travel takes place within normal work hours, counts as hours worked.
• Time spent traveling from home to the airport will not count as hours worked.

Obviously, these rules are general and specific facts may lend to different results.   Like any wage and hour issue left unchecked, failure to properly pay travel time may lead to serious monetary damages down the road.  Even if you are familiar with these rules, it may be worth a few minutes of your time to confirm your travel time policy with an experienced employment attorney.