Employee Travel Between Job Sites Is Paid Work

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a Third Circuit decision that the Fair Labor Standards Act requires compensation for travel time between job sites. This makes that decision binding in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. It is also a bellwether for similar cases in other jurisdictions.

This was a lawsuit against a home healthcare agency for failing to pay employees for travel time between client homes. The DOL stated that its continuous workday doctrine, which asserts that time spent traveling as part of an employee’s main activities—such as moving between job sites during the workday—must be counted as hours worked. The employer argued that this travel time was not payable because it was not essential to caregiving duties and sometimes occurred before or after breaks. The Third Circuit rejected these arguments, ruling that travel between patient homes is a critical and necessary part of home healthcare work and a main job activity. The court also clarified that employees could not use this time for personal purposes and needed to travel to reach their next work site.

Why this is important... Because the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, it is likely to extend this rule beyond the Third Circuit. This decision is not limited only to home healthcare agencies. DOL has consistently argued that travel between workplaces is compensable time, meaning it must be paid for and counts toward the total hours worked to determine whether overtime pay is required.