What Is Florida State Law On Havingfor Travel Time?

Florida does not specify that employers must pay their employees for time spent traveling to and from work. However, there are some exceptions where travel time may be considered compensable work time under Florida law

Commuting Travel Time

Fla. Stat. § 448.02(3) states that trips to and from work are generally not considered work time. General travel from home to office and vice versa is not considered compensable under the FLSA. However, if an employee is directed to go to a place that is not his or her usual work station, the time spent on transit may be considered as hours worked depending on the circumstances.

Out-of-Town Travel

Employer is liable to pay employees for all hours that they are on official business outside the employer’s place of business, except for ‘m eal periods and rest periods. For instance, if an employee travels from Miami to New York for a one day business meeting, the time spent on the flight is considered as hours worked and must be paid for.

Travel During the Workday

Any time spent while traveling during the normal working day is considered working time. For instance, if an employee is driving to another location for a meeting or driving between two places where he or she is required to work, then that time must be compensated as working hours. There is no requirement for payment in the event that a worker takes a meal break during the travel time period.

Activities Performed While Traveling

However, if the employee does work while traveling, then the time spent traveling qualifies as hours worked under the provisions of the FLSA. For instance, if an employee has to drive to another city for work and he or she spends making business calls on the road, then the time spent on the road will be paid.

Company Vehicles

Some employees are given company cars to drive from work place to home and use the same car to go to work the next morning. For the most part, normal commuting in a company vehicle is not compensable time under the Florida law. In any case, if the employees are expected to work in the car either before or after their shift, they may be entitled to be paid for that extra time.

Exemption for Public Agencies

According to the Florida law, working time spent in travelling to and from training activities is counted as working time for employees in private businesses. But for the employees of a public agency, time taken to travel to training is not considered for overtime as well as minimum wage under the Florida law. It is important to note, however, that employees working in the public sector must be reimbursed for travel costs incurred while attending training sessions.

Enforcement

According to the law of Florida, the matters such as, unpaid wages or minimum wages issues can be complained in the FL Department of Economic Opportunity. Law enforcement will assess the situation to establish whether the state wage and hour laws have been infringed. In case there is the violation, the employer may be directed to pay the concerned employees the amount of back wages. Employees also have the option of seeking legal redress in a civil court action seeking their unpaid wages.

That summarizes several of the most important aspects of Florida wage law concerning the payment for the traveling time of the employees. While these rules are general, the specifics of each case may be different – workers with questions should contact an employment law attorney or the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. If there would be anything else that you would like me to elaborate or if you have any question, please do not hesitate to inform me.

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