Commute Time Not Counted As Hours Worked FLSA Rule
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The Core Formula
Formula = Home-to-Work Travel = NOT hours worked (non-compensable)
Travel During Workday (site-to-site) = Hours worked (compensable)
Continuous Workday Doctrine = Once principal activity starts, all time until end of day counts
The rule comes from the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947, which amended the FLSA. It’s been federal law for nearly 80 years and the 2026 DOL guidance leaves it unchanged.
Step-by-Step: Identify Compensable Travel In Your Day
Let’s walk through a typical day for a construction worker in Arizona.
- Home to shop: 30 minutes — not compensable.
- Shop to job site: 20 minutes — compensable (you’ve already started principal activity at the shop).
- Job site to lunch and back: compensable if it’s a short paid break; not if it’s a 30+ minute unpaid meal.
- Job site to shop: 20 minutes — compensable.
- Shop to home: 30 minutes — not compensable.
Worked example, paid vs unpaid travel:
| Travel Segment | Time | Compensable? | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home → shop | 0:30 | No | Ordinary commute |
| Shop → job site | 0:20 | Yes | After principal activity |
| Job site → lunch | 0:10 | No | Unpaid meal break |
| Lunch → job site | 0:10 | No | Unpaid meal break |
| Job site → shop | 0:20 | Yes | Continuous workday |
| Shop → home | 0:30 | No | Ordinary commute |
| Total travel | 2:00 | 0:40 paid |
So what does that mean for you? The 40 minutes between shop and job site are paid time, and they count toward your 40-hour OT threshold. A lot of employers skip this, which is a classic FLSA violation.
To track your daily hours including the compensable travel, the work-hours-calculator handles the daily block math. For unpaid meal break deductions from the workday, the break-time-deduction-calculator applies the FLSA 30-minute rule. To total it all into a weekly timesheet, the time-card-calculator is the right tool.
2026 Real Case: A Service Technician’s Daily Travel
Marco is a field service technician in Nevada. His employer assigns him a service van that he’s allowed to drive home. He drives from home to his first call, then between calls, then home from his last call at the end of the day.
Under the FLSA, this is the trickiest scenario in travel pay. Per DOL Field Operations Handbook 31c02, the rule is:
- Home to first call: not compensable (analogous to commute), even in a company vehicle, if the vehicle is used only for commuting.
- First call to last call: compensable (travel between job sites during the workday).
- Last call to home: not compensable (analogous to commute).
But — and this is the kicker — if Marco is required to stop at the warehouse at the start or end of the day to load parts or do paperwork, the continuous workday doctrine kicks in. The drive from home to warehouse is still a commute, but everything from the warehouse onward counts.
Marco’s typical day:
- Home to warehouse: 30 min — not paid
- Warehouse to first call: 20 min — paid
- Between calls: 60 min total — paid
- Last call to home: 35 min — not paid
- Total paid travel: 80 minutes per day
Over a 5-day week, that’s 400 minutes (6.67 hours) of paid travel time. If Marco works 38 hours of actual service time plus 6.67 hours of paid travel, he’s at 44.67 hours — meaning 4.67 hours of overtime at 1.5×.
A friend of mine in HVAC installation discovered his employer was treating all his van travel as “free commute.” He tracked it for a month, filed a wage claim, and recovered about $3,200 in back OT. Nevada’s two-year statute of limitations on FLSA claims gave him a long runway.
For related guidance on what counts as paid work time, our how to subtract unpaid breaks from work hours FLSA guide clarifies the break side of the same rules. For overall timesheet math, see timesheet total hour calculation step by step example.
Commute And Travel Pay Reference Table
| Travel Type | Compensable Under FLSA | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Home to normal worksite | No | Standard commute |
| Home to one-day assignment in another city | Yes (travel time minus normal commute) | Special one-day assignment rule |
| Home to temporary worksite (same metro) | No | Treated as commute |
| Worksite to worksite during day | Yes | Travel between job sites |
| Overnight travel during normal work hours | Yes | Even on weekends |
| Overnight travel outside normal work hours | No (as a passenger) | Yes if driving |
| Driving company vehicle home (commute use only) | No | Limited personal use allowed |
Where do people mess this up? They assume “if I’m in a company truck, it’s paid time.” That’s true while you’re driving between calls during the day, but the home-to-first-call leg is still commute.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my commute count as work time under FLSA?
No. Ordinary home-to-work travel is not compensable under FLSA, no matter how long the commute is. The rule applies even if you are called in outside your normal schedule — getting to the workplace is on your own time.
When is travel time considered hours worked under FLSA?
Travel during the workday between job sites is compensable. Travel that is part of the job’s principal activities (like a delivery driver’s route) is compensable. Overnight out-of-town travel during normal working hours on any day of the week is also compensable.
Does the FLSA require pay for driving a company vehicle home?
Generally no, if the vehicle is used only for commuting and the employer has a policy allowing limited personal use. But if the employee is required to perform tasks along the way (like picking up supplies) that driving becomes compensable work time.
What if my employer requires me to pick up tools at the shop before driving to a job site?
That travel is compensable. Once an employee performs a principal activity at the start of the day (like picking up equipment), the continuous workday doctrine says all subsequent travel and activities until the end of the day count as hours worked.
The Bottom Line
Your morning commute is on you. But once you touch a principal activity at the shop or your first job site, the clock is running — and every minute of paid travel pushes you closer to the 40-hour OT threshold. Track your day with the work-hours-calculator, and you’ll know exactly when those first overtime minutes kick in.