Employers have long struggled with determining what is and what is not compensable when considering the time an employee spends traveling. The general rules are fairly straightforward. For instance, ordinary commuting time is not considered hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and need not be paid. This includes time spent “walking, riding, or traveling to and from the actual place of” work. 29 U.S.C. § 254(a)(1). Said another way, normal travel from home to work (and back) is not work time. However, the FLSA has also long recognized the “continuous workday” doctrine, which provides that once a workday starts, all activity in that day is ordinarily compensable until the workday ends, even if an employee is not engaged in productive work. That includes time spent by an employee traveling as part of his job, such as travel from one job site to another during the workday. 26 C.F.R. § 785.38. It also includes travel between work sites or from the last work site to the employer’s office at the end of the day (note, however, that when the employee travels home from the final job site instead of returning to the employer’s office or property, that travel is ordinarily not compensable). The exception to the exception – no wonder employers struggle – is that a break where the employee is relieved of all duties and that is longer than 20 minutes, and ideally closer to 30 or more, such as a meal break, need not be paid. But the employee must not be interrupted,...
New Delhi: A digitally altered video circulating on social media falsely claims that China has taken control of Asaphila, Longju and Taksing Circle in Arunachal Pradesh and that the Indian Army ha...