Under the Washington Minimum Wage Act (MWA),1 employers are required to pay employees for all “hours worked.” Unfortunately, whether activities count as hours worked is not a simple concept, especially when it comes to commuting and travel time. Although employers generally do not have to pay employees for their daily commute to and from work, Washington case law has identified some commute contexts that do count as hours worked. Employers should immediately update their travel time policies and practices to ensure that they are fully paying employees for all hours worked in compliance with the recent Port of Tacoma v. Sacks2 decision.
The relevant MWA regulation defines “hours worked” to include “all hours during which the employee is authorized or required by the employer to be on duty on the employer’s premises or at a prescribed work place.”3 Beyond this regulatory definition, the Department of Labor and Industries (the Department) has issued an administrative policy that provides details on the Department’s interpretation of what activities or time count as compensable hours worked.4
The Department’s policy distinguishes “commute time” from “travel time.” The policy defines “commute time” as the time an employee travels between work and home and “travel time”5 as “time spent travelling for a work-related purpose.”6 Importantly, the policy instructs that commute time is not compensable but that travel time is.7
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