employee travel

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sparky

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I trying to get a opinion on paying employees to travel to different construction sites. I have two circumstances. #1 employee who takes company vehicle home
#2 employee in their private vehicle. My stance has always been pay starts for both types when you get to site and stops when you leave. Recently my sites have become further away from typical service area, I am getting push back about paying not paying to drive to the sites that are farther away.
we are one job for 3 months that is only 10 min away. The next job its 60 minutes away.
It is not multiple sites in a day just one site. Thoughts?
 
This was a topic of intense discussion at my previous employer, and as far as I know, continues to be. They, however, were mainly a service organization so the issue was on a day-by-day basis. Does the employee without the truck come to the shop first to get his truck or report directly to the site where tools and materials are on hand?
 
Both employee go directly to job site where all material is present. If they come to shop or a supply house first they get paid starting at that location. .
 
If you are accepting jobs that require your guys to drive a lot farther to get there than their normal drive to work it seems fair to pay them for the extra time along with mileage.

If they come to the shop first you are probably by labor laws required to pay them the drive time from the shop along with mileage. And ditto when returning to the shop.

In any case, you should try to be fair about it. Adding a few minutes to someone's commute is a big difference from adding a few hours.
 
I believe the IRS, or some other agency, has something about normal 'commute time' that applies when employees are leaving from home rather than from their place of business. This decision impacts benefits from personal use of the truck to overtime and hours worked in a time period.
 
Our employees get paid when they leave the shop until they get back from the shop.

I can understand your employees frustration when they are expected to give you two hours of their own time everyday just to put in their 8 hours. Were they made aware of this fact when you hired them that you were going to take on projects this far away and expect them to commute on their own time?

Also, 8 hours work x $40/hr? = $320 / 10 hours gone from home = $32/hr. That's quite a pay cut...
 
With service travel pay starts if over thirty minutes, with that thirty minutes on them at the start of the day, then same at the end of the day, also the tech gets to take the truck or van home. With construction they only pay travel if its out of town, which then, they get 100% each way, but not while they are out of town, unless they go to a different out of town job from that one.
 
Cow said:
Our employees get paid when they leave the shop until they get back from the shop.

I can understand your employees frustration when they are expected to give you two hours of their own time everyday just to put in their 8 hours. Were they made aware of this fact when you hired them that you were going to take on projects this far away and expect them to commute on their own time?

Also, 8 hours work x $40/hr? = $320 / 10 hours gone from home = $32/hr. That's quite a pay cut...
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Yes employee manual states travel policy. I am trying to weigh out there point of view.
But isnt a employee required to travel to their job? Everyone has commuting during their work day.
You wouldn't expect a to be paid to travel to your office job.
 
Cow said:
Our employees get paid when they leave the shop until they get back from the shop.

I can understand your employees frustration when they are expected to give you two hours of their own time everyday just to put in their 8 hours. Were they made aware of this fact when you hired them that you were going to take on projects this far away and expect them to commute on their own time?

Also, 8 hours work x $40/hr? = $320 / 10 hours gone from home = $32/hr. That's quite a pay cut...
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do they always come back to the shop ? what if they live 10 minutes from the job site? so they drive a hour back to the shop being paid and then 50 minutes back to their house.
 
sparky said:
do they always come back to the shop ? what if they live 10 minutes from the job site? so they drive a hour back to the shop being paid and then 50 minutes back to their house.
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When I first started with the company I'm with now, we had to drive to the shop in the morning unpaid, hour and a half for me. But got paid from there on, but not from the last job of the day, but did get to drive directly home. Eventually we didn't have to go to the shop anymore, and went directly to the first job of the day, when pay started, then they finally started paying travel after the first 30 minutes, and paid travel home if it was more than thirty minutes.
 
If they report to the job site and it is with in xx miles they need to be there on time and they do not get payed. If they report to the shop they need to be on time and are on the clock from that point.

We would pay travel one way if the job was 50 miles.

Out of town projects were handled on case by case basis.

I lived 70 miles from the shop but had a company vehicle with gas so I was not payed travel.

Roger
 
sparky said:
Yes employee manual states travel policy. I am trying to weigh out there point of view.
But isnt a employee required to travel to their job? Everyone has commuting during their work day.
You wouldn't expect a to be paid to travel to your office job.
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My opinion, more than an hour from your center of operation should be paid. Figure out a way to make it a per diem payment and you won't have to pay payroll taxes on it.
 
Cow said:
Our employees get paid when they leave the shop until they get back from the shop.

I can understand your employees frustration when they are expected to give you two hours of their own time everyday just to put in their 8 hours. Were they made aware of this fact when you hired them that you were going to take on projects this far away and expect them to commute on their own time?

Also, 8 hours work x $40/hr? = $320 / 10 hours gone from home = $32/hr. That's quite a pay cut...
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I agree. My present employer put me on a job an hour away and didn't tell me that when I hired on. That was bad enough, then I found out they don't pay travel time. I've got my eye out for another job constantly. I never even thought I needed to ask about travel time.
 
sparky said:
do they always come back to the shop ? what if they live 10 minutes from the job site? so they drive a hour back to the shop being paid and then 50 minutes back to their house.
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Generally, yes. They have to drop their apprentices off.

But, we do have a project going on an hour away right now. They all leave the site one hour before quitting time, some live a few minutes from the shop, some live closer to the jobsite and probably get home 15 minutes sooner than the others that drive all the way back to the shop.

Their timecards will all show 10 hours. We get no complaints.

On a different job at a different location, it might work out that a different electrician or electricians get home a little sooner than the others. I don't think it varies more than 15 minutes or so difference. I think it all comes out in the wash with some getting back sooner than others.
 
Cow said:
Generally, yes. They have to drop their apprentices off.

But, we do have a project going on an hour away right now. They all leave the site one hour before quitting time, some live a few minutes from the shop, some live closer to the jobsite and probably get home 15 minutes sooner than the others that drive all the way back to the shop.

Their timecards will all show 10 hours. We get no complaints.

On a different job at a different location, it might work out that a different electrician or electricians get home a little sooner than the others. I don't think it varies more than 15 minutes or so difference. I think it all comes out in the wash with some getting back sooner than others.
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That's the way it should be
 
sparky said:
Yes employee manual states travel policy. I am trying to weigh out there point of view.
But isnt a employee required to travel to their job? Everyone has commuting during their work day.
You wouldn't expect a to be paid to travel to your office job.
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I agree IF you are traveling to your normal place of employment. If your employer sends you some place 2 extra hours away, is that fair?
 
petersonra said:
I agree IF you are traveling to your normal place of employment. If your employer sends you some place 2 extra hours away, is that fair?
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IRS rules are pretty clear at least in mileage. It’s a little complex but generally if the job site is more than a reasonable amount like 25 miles from the normal distance to work, it’s a deduction or employer pays. Under that no deduction, On hours each state is different but same concept,

So in my case (service tech) we drive company trucks and report time door to door. Scheduled day is 10 hours with half hour paid lunch as per DOL but the first two hours are unpaid, assumed to be travel time. That’s the typical travel time to the office for most of us. We’re in a rural state very spread out.
 
Oh my, it's really not that convoluted. I worked under absolute rules and no exceptions, anytime, anywhere.

Salaried, no OT, ever. My motto, "If you're buying, I'm flying"
So today I work 10 hours, tomorrow 6. Get it? All travel expenses are paid no matter what. So if I missed the only puddle-jumper flight out of that Nebraska cornfield, my choice of motel and meals and any other travel expenses until I get home or to the office. Then there's the "as long as you're in Dallas why not hop over to New Orleans and as long as you're there why don't you hop over to... "If you're buying, I'm flying"

The companies I worked for understood service work was not a precise endeavor. So it was a trade-off to make us both happy.

Today I work like crazy locally but tomorrow I go home at noon or go shopping or whatever. Out of town, lots of sightseeing at company expense.

In the event my boss and I ended up in the office at the same time which was rare, he would put his arm on my shoulder and proclaim "I don't really know what you do, haven't heard any complaints. so keep doing it!"
 
Oh, did I forget to mention my experiences were from the 1960's, '70's?
I was in the electronics field up to 1990, then I became a local home remodel contractor. No more "buyin' and flyin' on someone elses dime.

Yeah, it's vastly different world. It could be scary to me but I'm so old I've forgotten how to be scared!
 
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