Question of the Week: Do We Need to Pay a Remote Employee for Travel Time to Drop Off Files?

Each week, we tackle a real HR and payroll question from business owners just like you. This week's question comes from an employer navigating the world of remote work and wage and hour compliance.

The Question:

"We have a nonexempt employee who has been working from home. Do we need to pay them for time spent traveling to the office? They've been asked to drop off some files during their normally scheduled work hours."

The Answer:

Yes, in this situation, we recommend paying this employee for travel time during their workday.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), tasks performed during an employee's "continuous workday" are considered paid time, with a few notable exceptions, such as meal breaks. Because this employee will be dropping the files off at the office during their normally scheduled work hours, the trip is most likely considered part of their continuous workday and needs to be paid accordingly.

There's also a practical, people-centered reason to get this right. Choosing not to pay them for this time would mean asking them to complete a task that results in less income than they'd normally earn that day. That kind of gap, even when unintentional, tends to prompt frustration and can chip away at employee morale over time.

For these reasons, we recommend paying this employee for their travel time.

The Takeaway for Employers:

Remote work has blurred a lot of the old lines around "on the clock" versus "off the clock," and travel time is one of the areas where it's easy to get tripped up. When a nonexempt employee is asked to run a work-related errand, like dropping off files, during their regular work hours, that time is very likely compensable. When in doubt about whether time worked during the day counts as paid time, it's safest to assume it does, and to confirm with a trusted HR or payroll resource.