Travel Scenarios for Nonexempt Employees
Often travel scenarios are unique or nuanced. Several scenarios are provided below as examples of common travel situations. Contact the Compensation and Organizational Effectiveness team to discuss any questions about travel compensation.
One day out-of-town travel:
An employee who regularly works at a fixed location in one city is given a special one-day assignment in another city and returns home the same day. The time spent traveling to and returning from the other city is work time, except that the employer may deduct/not count that time the employee would normally spend commuting to the regular work site.
One day travel – Recruitment Fair
Joe works on the K-State Salina campus and is traveling to a recruitment fair in Wichita. His regular working hours are 8 am-5 pm. Joe leaves Salina at 7 am and the fair starts at 9 am. Joe eats a sandwich at the booth so that he can continue to meet with prospective students. The recruitment event ends at 4 pm and Joe arrives back in Salina at 5:30 pm.
One day travel – Conference Attendance
Yolanda works on the K-State Olathe campus and is traveling to Manhattan to attend a one-day professional development event related to her work. Yolanda’s regular work schedule is 7:30 am-4 pm. The event starts at 8 am and ends at 5 pm. The event includes a one-hour lunch break with no planned programming. Yolanda leaves at 6 am and returns to Olathe at 7 pm.
Travel Away from Home Community:
Travel that keeps an employee away from home overnight is travel away from home. Employees who travel overnight on business must be paid for time spent traveling (except for meal periods) during their normal working hours on their regular working days as well as during normal working hours on their non-working days, such as Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. For instance, if an employee's working time is regularly scheduled 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, then any travel on Saturday and Sunday between those hours is also compensable.
When an employee is required by the employer to drive themselves or others, all driving time is compensable. Time spent in travel away from home outside of regular working hours as a passenger on an airplane, train, boat, bus or automobile will not be counted as work time.
When recording travel that crosses time zones, focus on the actual time spent in travel, not times of arrival/departure that are in the different time zones. It can also be helpful to convert times to the same time zone when calculating hours.
Overnight travel – Recruitment Tour
Alejandro is a recruiter based in Wichita, KS. He will be traveling overnight for recruitment events over a two-day period. Alejandro typically works 8 am-5 pm, Monday-Friday. On Tuesday he departs Wichita at 6 am and drives to Liberal to attend a recruitment fair that starts at 10 am and ends at 3 pm. Lunch was provided at the booth and Alejandro continued to meet with students. Alejandro then drives an hour and 15 minutes to Garden City where he checks into the hotel and works on his laptop until 5 pm. The next morning, he checks out of the hotel at 8 am and arrives at the recruitment fair at 8:30 am. The recruitment fair runs until 4 pm with no lunch break. Alejandro then drives back to Wichita, arriving at 8 pm.
Overnight travel – Conference Attendance Out of State
Riley is attending a conference in Seattle. Their regular work hours are 8 am-5 pm, Monday-Friday. Riley leaves for the MHK airport at 3:30 am, arrives at 4 am and boards the plane at 5 am on Friday. The first flight is 2 hours with an hour in the airport before the second flight, which is 3 hours. They arrive in Seattle at 9 am pacific time (11 am central time) and take a 30-minute Uber ride to the hotel where the conference will be held. Riley works in their hotel room until the conference starts at noon, pacific time, with a lunch that includes the keynote address. The conference ends at 4 pm pacific time (6 pm central time).
Riley attends the conference on Saturday and Sunday. The sessions run from 9 am to 4 pm each day with an hour break for lunch.
On Monday, Riley works in their hotel room from 8 am until noon pacific time before taking a 30-minute Uber to the airport. They depart at 2 pm pacific time (4 pm central time), are in flight for 2.5 hours and spend 2 hours in the airport before the connecting flight of 1.5 hours lands in MHK at 10 pm.
Managing Time Flexibly Within the Same Workweek
When an employee needs to work outside regular work hours, managers may allow them to flex the additional time later in the same workweek. The decision to change the employee’s work schedule is not up to the employee and must be managed and approved by the immediate supervisor. Time is recorded as it is worked. It is prohibited for supervisors and employees to make special arrangements “off the books.” Time worked over 40 hours in a workweek must be compensated.
Flexible schedule scenario
Kathryn organizes events for her department. She regularly works 8 am-5 pm, Monday-Friday. On Tuesday and Wednesday, she hosts a two-day event that requires her to arrive at 7:00 am for setup each day. Tuesday, she works through lunch to set up an exhibit and hosts the evening social, which ends at 7 pm. Wednesday Kathryn again works through lunch. The event ends at 4 pm but Kathryn works until 5 pm cleaning up from the event. Kathryn’s supervisor has approved letting Kathryn flex the extra time on Friday.
Additional Resources
Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division:
K-State Policies, Procedures and Manuals: