Compensable time is time the employer must pay for because it counts as hours worked. It often includes more than the hours spent on the main task, like waiting, short breaks and travel between jobs.
| Situation | Usually compensable? | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting at the job for parts to arrive | Yes, engaged to wait | 29 CFR 785.15 |
| Sent home for 3 hours, free to leave | No, completely relieved | 29 CFR 785.16 |
| On call at home, just reachable by phone | Generally no | 29 CFR 785.17 |
| On call, must stay on the premises | Yes | 29 CFR 785.17 |
| Coffee break of 10 minutes | Yes | 29 CFR 785.18 |
| Commute from home to the first site | No | 29 CFR 785.35 |
| Drive from one job site to the next | Yes | 29 CFR 785.38 |
On-call arrangements in between these two ends depend on how restricted the employee really is. See on-call pay and the travel time pay rules.
To record clock-ins, breaks and overtime automatically, see EZTime time and attendance software.
A plumbing company pays its techs from arrival at the first job to departure from the last. One tech’s day: 7:00 at the shop loading parts the dispatcher assigned, 7:45 at the first job, a 30-minute lunch completely off duty, two more jobs with driving in between, done at the last site at 4:00, back at the shop at 4:30 to drop the van.
Paid time was 7:45 to 4:00 minus lunch, or 7.75 hours. Compensable time starts with loading parts at 7:00, since that is part of the job, and runs to 4:30, minus the 30-minute lunch: 9 hours. The gap is 1.25 hours a day. Over 5 days the tech worked 45 hours but was paid for 38.75, so 1.25 hours of straight time and 5 hours of overtime went unpaid.
At $26 an hour, that is 1.25 times $26 plus 5 times $39, or about $228 a week for one tech, before any state penalties.
Time in meetings, lectures and training is hours worked unless all four conditions in 29 CFR 785.27 are met: it is outside regular hours, attendance is truly voluntary, it is not directly related to the job, and the employee does no productive work during it. Required training almost never meets them.
Travel to training follows the travel rules. A trip across town to a required course during the workday is work time. A special one-day trip to another city for training is generally work time, minus the usual commute and meal time.
A manufacturer holds a required 30-minute safety meeting at 6:30 a.m. on the first Monday of each month, before the 7:00 shift. Operators are told to attend but are not clocked in until 7:00.
The meeting is required and about the job, so it is hours worked. For 50 operators at $21 an hour, the unpaid time is 50 x 0.5 x $21 = $525 a month, more where it pushes a week over 40. The company starts the meeting day at 6:30 on the clock and records it as paid training time.
Compensable time is hours worked that must be paid. Non-compensable time includes normal commuting, bona fide meal periods and time when the employee is completely relieved from duty.
Normal home-to-work travel is not. Travel between job sites during the workday is. Overnight and special travel have their own rules.
Rest periods of 5 to about 20 minutes are hours worked. Meal periods of ordinarily 30 minutes or more, with the employee completely relieved from duty, are not.
If the employee is engaged to wait, yes. If the employee is completely relieved and free to use the time, no.
Yes. Training that the employer requires, or that is directly related to the job, is hours worked for non-exempt employees.
It depends. Putting on required protective gear at work that is integral to the job is generally hours worked. Changing at home generally is not.
Employees clock in by mobile GPS, web, kiosk or NFC, with geofencing, break alerts and missed-punch requests that keep an audit trail.