Remote work, hybrid schedules complicate payments for commute time

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in countless hybrid and remote work situations, and employers continue to grapple with compensable vs. noncompensable time. A December 2020 opinion letter from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) about the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) may provide clarity.

DOL opinion letter to the rescue

For hourly employees continuing to do their jobs remotely or following a hybrid work schedule, questions continue to arise about what time is paid or unpaid. Complications arise when the workers have fluid schedules, e.g., running errands in the middle of the day only to go to a meeting at the office later.

The DOL opinion letter FLSA 2020-19, dated December 31, 2020, may be useful for those of you who feel the issues have gotten more complex because of the hybrid schedule. The letter looks specifically at travel time for an employee who chooses to work remotely for part of the day and in the office for the rest.

The letter also addresses a large number of fact patterns, including an employee who had a one-hour commute to work. We cover two examples below.

First fact pattern

The employee worked in the office in the morning, had a parent-teacher conference for 45 minutes in the afternoon, and then decided to work from home for the rest of day rather than return to work.