For many employers, the line between commuting and working isn’t as clear as it used to be.
Hybrid employees may travel between home and the office during the workday. Field employees may begin coordinating appointments before leaving home. Employees may check schedules, answer calls, or handle other work-related tasks before arriving at their first job site.
So when does travel become compensable time?
Recent opinion letters from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) provide additional clarity about how existing Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) principles apply to certain commuting situations involving remote and field employees.
For growing businesses, these distinctions matter. Incorrectly treating work time as unpaid travel can create wage-and-hour compliance problems, particularly when employees and managers have different understandings of when the workday actually begins.
Here’s what employers should know — and where a fractional HR company can help.
What Did the DOL’s New Travel Time Guidance Clarify?
The DOL’s recent opinion letters center on one key distinction: who controls the timing of the travel, and whether work is required immediately before or after it.
That distinction plays out differently depending on the type of employee.
Employee-Chosen Travel Is Generally Unpaid
If an employee voluntarily travels between home and the office—even mid-day, even in a hybrid arrangement—that time typically remains an ordinary, unpaid commute. The employee is making the choice, not the employer, so it stays outside compensable hours.
Employer-Directed Travel May Be Compensable
When the employer controls the timing of a trip and requires substantial work immediately before and after it, that travel time can cross into paid territory. The more the employer dictates the schedule, the stronger the case that the travel is part of the job—not a commute.
Field Employee Travel Depends on What Happens Beforehand
For employees who travel to a first job site of the day, that travel may be compensable if the employee performs work immediately before departing—reviewing job assignments, coordinating logistics, confirming appointments, or handling calls before they’ve even left the house.
Why This Isn’t Just a Legal Technicality
This guidance has real, day-to-day implications for how your organization runs payroll and manages risk:
- Wage and hour exposure. Misclassifying compensable travel as an unpaid commute is one of the most common triggers for DOL complaints and audits.
- Payroll inconsistency. Without a clear policy, different managers interpret “working during the commute” differently—creating exposure that compounds across a growing workforce.
- State law layering. Federal guidance sets the floor, not the ceiling. Many states apply stricter standards to travel time and commute pay, and those rules don’t always match FLSA guidance.
The Biggest Risk: Your Policy May Not Match Reality
A written travel policy is useful — but only if employees are actually following it.
For example, your policy might say:
“Employees should not perform work while commuting.”
But what happens if managers regularly expect employees to:
- Check schedules before leaving home
- Answer client calls
- Respond to Slack or Teams messages
- Review job assignments
- Coordinate appointments
- Complete required paperwork
- Join calls while traveling
At that point, the question isn’t simply what your policy says.
It’s what employees are actually being required or permitted to do.
That distinction is where wage-and-hour compliance problems can develop.
What Employers Should Review Now
If you have hybrid, remote, field-based, or traveling employees, consider reviewing these areas:
1. Travel Policies
Does your employee handbook clearly explain which travel is considered ordinary commuting and which travel must be recorded as work time?
2. Timekeeping Practices
Can employees accurately record work performed before leaving home, during the workday, or while traveling between job sites?
3. Manager Expectations
Are managers inadvertently asking employees to begin working before their scheduled start time?
4. Hybrid Work Practices
Are employees voluntarily traveling between home and the office, or is the company directing when and how that travel must occur?
5. State Requirements
Federal FLSA requirements aren’t necessarily the only rules that apply. State wage-and-hour laws can impose additional requirements, so employers should evaluate applicable state law as well.
The DOL itself notes that federal travel-time rules can depend on the type of travel involved and directs employers to consider applicable state requirements as well.
Why This Is a Good Job for a Fractional HR Company
For a small or midsized business, keeping up with every DOL opinion letter, wage-and-hour development, and state requirements can be difficult.
That’s where fractional HR services can provide practical support.
A fractional HR company can help your organization:
- Review travel and timekeeping policies
- Identify potential wage-and-hour gaps
- Evaluate hybrid and field employee practices
- Train managers on timekeeping expectations
- Update employee policies when requirements change
- Coordinate HR compliance across multiple states
- Help establish consistent payroll and timekeeping procedures
The goal isn’t simply to react when a regulation or opinion letter makes headlines.
It’s to make sure your actual workplace practices align with your policies and applicable wage-and-hour requirements.
What Should Already Be in Place
Before reacting to new guidance, it’s worth auditing whether the basics are solid:
- Clear, written travel time and remote/hybrid work policies
- Consistent payroll practices applied the same way across every team and manager
- Managers who understand what does and doesn’t count as compensable time
Gaps in any of these three areas are usually where compliance risk hides—and where a fractional HR company adds the most immediate value.
A Simple Compliance Check for This Week
Start with one question:
Are your employees performing work before, during, or between trips that your company currently treats as unpaid travel?
If the answer is yes, take a closer look.
Review what the employee is doing, who controls the timing of the travel, when the workday begins, and whether the travel occurs during the workday.
Those details can make a meaningful difference under the FLSA.
Frequently Asked Questions About DOL Travel Time Rules
Is ordinary commute time compensable under the FLSA?
Generally, no. Ordinary travel between an employee’s home and regular workplace is generally not compensable under the FLSA. However, different rules can apply when travel occurs during the workday or when the circumstances make the travel something other than an ordinary commute.
Does the new DOL guidance mean employers must pay all employee travel time?
No. The July 2026 DOL opinion letters do not establish a blanket rule requiring employers to pay all commuting time. They address specific factual situations and apply existing FLSA principles to those circumstances.
Is travel between job sites compensable?
Generally, yes. Travel from one job site to another during an employee’s workday is generally considered compensable work time under the FLSA.
Can working from home before traveling make travel time compensable?
It can, depending on the circumstances. The DOL’s July 2026 opinion letter addressed a situation where an employee performed substantial work before traveling from home to a first client location and concluded that the travel was compensable under those specific facts.
Do hybrid employees have different FLSA travel rules?
Not necessarily. The same underlying FLSA principles apply, but hybrid schedules can create more complicated questions about whether travel is an ordinary commute or part of the employee’s workday.
What should an employer do if it isn’t sure whether travel time should be paid?
Review the employee’s actual schedule, job duties, travel requirements, timekeeping practices, and applicable federal and state requirements. Because travel-time questions are highly fact-specific, employers may benefit from HR or legal guidance before changing their pay practices.
How can a fractional HR company help with travel-time compliance?
A fractional HR company can review policies and practices, identify potential wage-and-hour risks, improve timekeeping procedures, train managers, and help employers respond to regulatory developments.
How Exceptional HR Solutions Can Help
Travel-time compliance isn’t always straightforward. The answer can depend on what the employee is doing, when they’re doing it, and how much control the employer has over the travel.
Exceptional HR Solutions provides fractional HR services to help growing businesses navigate these types of compliance questions without maintaining a full in-house HR department.
We can help you:
- Review travel and timekeeping policies
- Evaluate hybrid and field-worker practices
- Strengthen wage-and-hour compliance
- Train managers on timekeeping expectations
- Keep HR policies aligned with changing requirements
Not sure whether your current travel-time practices are compliant?
Contact Exceptional HR Solutions for a compliance review with our fractional HR team.
