Washington employers should rethink their policies on paying non-exempt employees for travel time based upon a recent appellate court ruling that travel time for out-of-town travel is considered compensable “hours worked” as a matter of Washington law. Port of Tacoma v. Sacks, No. 54498-9-II (Wash. Ct. App. Sept. 21, 2021).
The case involved four Washington-based hourly employees who made two trips to China to observe the manufacturing of marine cranes and one trip to Houston to attend relevant training. The Court of Appeals held the employees had to be paid for all of the time they spent traveling to, from, and within China, not just the eight hours per day the Port had negotiated with the employees’ union.
The Court of Appeals concluded that travel time for out-of-town travel is considered compensable “hours worked” as a matter of Washington law, regardless of whether any work is performed during the journey, whether the employer owns or controls the employee’s means of transport, or whether the employee’s travel takes place during normal work hours.
The Court embraced the policy advocated by the Washington Department of Labor & Industries, which both distinguished overnight and out-of-town travel from other types of travel and contrasted Washington law with the more employer-friendly federal law in the area. The Department’s guidance for its investigators states:
Washington law is more favorable to employees than federal law. The federal Portal to Portal Act limits...
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