Travel Time Between Job Site Pay Rules
Try Our Free Calculators
Want to crunch the numbers yourself? Use these free tools:
- Work Hours Calculator — Work Hours Calculator
- Time and a Half Calculator: Free Overtime Pay (No Signup) — Time and a Half Calculator: Free Overtime Pay (No Signup)
- Overtime Pay Calculator 1.5x — Overtime Pay Calculator 1.5x
The Core Formula: What Travel Time Is Paid
Under the FLSA, ordinary commuting from home to your first job site and back home at the end of the day is not paid. But travel during the workday between job sites — or from a central dispatch to a worksite — is paid time.
Formula = Home → First Site = unpaid; Site A → Site B = paid; Last Site → Home = unpaid (with exceptions)
The big exception: if you have a fixed reporting location (like a shop or office), travel from home to that location is unpaid, but travel from there to a job site is paid. If you go straight from home to a job site that isn’t your normal reporting location, that travel may be paid too.
Step-by-Step: Calculating Paid Travel Time
Say you’re a plumber based out of a company shop. Your schedule today:
- Home → Shop (8:00–8:30 AM). Ordinary commute. Unpaid.
- Shop → Job Site A (8:30–9:00 AM). Paid travel. 0.5 hours.
- Job Site A → Job Site B (11:00–11:45 AM). Paid travel. 0.75 hours.
- Job Site B → Shop (3:00–3:30 PM). Paid travel. 0.5 hours.
- Shop → Home (3:30–4:00 PM). Ordinary commute. Unpaid.
Total paid travel time = 0.5 + 0.75 + 0.5 = 1.75 hours. At $22/hour, that’s $38.50 you might be missing every single day.
Use the work hours calculator to total up paid travel alongside your on-site hours.
2026 Real Case: Electrician Crew Driving All Day
Marcus is an electrician in Georgia making $28/hour. His company dispatches him from the shop to multiple sites daily. One week, he logged 30 hours on-site work and 12 hours of inter-site driving — but payroll only counted the on-site hours.
| Travel Type | Hours | Paid Under FLSA? |
|---|---|---|
| Home → Shop | 5 hrs | No |
| Shop → Site A | 4 hrs | Yes |
| Site A → Site B | 6 hrs | Yes |
| Site B → Shop | 2 hrs | Yes |
| Shop → Home | 5 hrs | No |
Marcus is owed 12 hours of unpaid travel time — $336 at straight time. If that puts him over 40 hours for the week, the excess is at 1.5×. A buddy of mine in HVAC won a similar back-pay case; these numbers add up over months.
Where do people mess this up? They assume “I’m in my own truck, so it doesn’t count.” Not true — if you’re traveling between sites for the employer’s benefit, it’s paid regardless of whose vehicle you’re in.
Special Cases: Overnight Travel and One-Day Jobs
Overnight travel out of town is paid during normal working hours, even on non-working days. Travel outside normal hours as a passenger is unpaid, but driving yourself is paid.
| Travel Scenario | Paid? |
|---|---|
| Same-day out-of-town trip | Yes, all travel time |
| Overnight — during normal work hours | Yes |
| Overnight — outside work hours, as passenger | No |
| Overnight — outside work hours, as driver | Yes |
| Home → regular reporting location | No |
For overtime on weeks with heavy travel, the overtime pay calculator handles the math. Our what counts as working hours guide covers travel time in more depth, and if you want to dig into premiums, the time and a half calculator shows the rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is travel between job sites paid under federal law?
Yes. Under the FLSA, travel between job sites during the workday is paid time. Only the ordinary commute from home to your first reporting location and back home at the end of the day is unpaid.
Do I get paid for driving from home to a job site?
It depends. If the job site is your normal reporting location, the commute is unpaid. If you go directly from home to a different job site (not your normal shop), that travel time may be paid under FLSA rules.
Does paid travel time count toward overtime?
Yes. Paid travel time is “hours worked” and counts toward the 40-hour weekly threshold. If regular work plus paid travel exceeds 40 hours in a workweek, the excess must be paid at 1.5× your regular rate.
Can my employer pay a different rate for travel time?
Employers can pay a different (lower) rate for travel time as long as it meets minimum wage and the regular rate calculation accounts for it properly. But travel time must still be counted toward overtime, and the blended rate must be at least minimum wage.
Bottom Line
Travel between job sites is paid time, period — and it counts toward overtime. Track every mile between dispatch and sites with the work hours calculator so you’re not leaving money on the table.