Travel Pay - Hourly Employees

Timeismoney08 · Jul 26, 2022

This has been a very touchy subject at my workplace for awhile, so I'm curious what your companies do for pay hourly guys?

Travel to customer? Do they get paid full regular pay when driving/flying to cusotmer?

How do employees clock-in/clock-out?

What about layovers or delayed flights?

Timeismoney08 · Jul 26, 2022

and does travel time go towards OT?

alan_505 · Jul 26, 2022

In my last job, I was paid from the time I left the office to when I got back, or if travelling I got paid from when I left home. If I worked greater than 8 hours I was paid overtime.
The end customer was billed for this.

Timeismoney08 · Jul 26, 2022

alan_505 said:
In my last job, I was paid from the time I left the office to when I got back, or if travelling I got paid from when I left home. If I worked greater than 8 hours I was paid overtime.
The end customer was billed for this.

Assuming you mean all pay was at your full rate.

You got paid from the minute you left home to returning? So literally you are making the same pay as you sleep each night?

plvlce · Jul 26, 2022

Timeismoney08 said:
Assuming you mean all pay was at your full rate.

You got paid from the minute you left home to returning? So literally you are making the same pay as you sleep each night?

I would assume rather that this was all work completed in a single day, or within a distance where he could return home each day.

If multi-day trip required I would expect a per diem for hotel/food (charged to customer ofc)

Timeismoney08 · Jul 26, 2022

plvlce said:
I would assume rather that this was all work completed in a single day, or within a distance where he could return home each day.

If multi-day trip required I would expect a per diem for hotel/food (charged to customer ofc)

Agreed, but the question becomes when is work considered started and ended each day.

If I need to travel to a customer and leave Sunday (Work Monday morning), should I be paid for the trip to the airport, the time on the plane, time getting a car, driving to hotel? What if I get delayed at the airport?

Should travel pay count towards OT?

Or should work only be considered by when I get to the customer site?

Timeismoney08 · Jul 26, 2022

plvlce said:
I would assume rather that this was all work completed in a single day, or within a distance where he could return home each day.

If multi-day trip required I would expect a per diem for hotel/food (charged to customer ofc)

We get $65 per day to cover food and misc stuff. Hotel, flight, and car is paid ahead of time by the company.

alan_505 · Jul 26, 2022

If it was longer than one day it I was paid whilst travelling and whilst working, if it was one day then it was from when I left home to when I got back to home.
Accommodation and food was supplied, no per diem paid.
Whilst working away from home I was paid from when I left the accommodation to when I returned to my accommodation.
The customer paid for all of this or we did not go.

If I got delayed at the airport I still got paid.

Timeismoney08 · Jul 26, 2022

Our company right now just gives 12hours of straight pay each day regardless of time worked or distance traveled.

So if I leave on Sunday, I get 12 hours (8 counted towards 40 needed to get OT)
Then I work Monday-Friday, I get 12 hours (8 each day counted towards 40 needed to get OT).

They did this to make it simple for keeping up with time, but not sure if this is right. If I work 12 hours, I lose out on some of the OT. Yes, some days I only spend 4-6 hours of travel and still get 12 hours though.

titanspark76 · Jul 26, 2022

At our company it is from the time you leave the house until you're in the hotel room on day of travel. After that it would be from the time you leave your hotel room in the morning until you return to the hotel room after work. All at normal rate plus OT after reaching 40 hrs.

johnd_125 · Jul 26, 2022

When I was hourly I got paid my normal hourly wage from the time I left home or work until I arrived at either the job site or the hotel. This would include driving time, time at the airport, flying and drive time on the other end. Normal overtime rules applied.

For overnight stays I was "on the clock" when I arrived at the customer's site and off the clock when I left. Travel time to and from the hotel to the customer was not included. There was no actual clocking in or out, just the honor system.

I've had per diem or charged for expenses depending on the job and employer. Hotel bills and rental car were not covered by per diem.

Tom Jenkins · Jul 26, 2022

I never liked per diem, and I always paid my guys for actual travel and living expenses. Per diem is rarely enough to cover actual expenses, and I've seen people scrimp to live on the cheap to make it work. It leads to hard feelings and even impacts performance.

My staff worked their buns off when they were in the field, and I always told them the least I could do for them was give them good meals, a cold beer at the end of the day, and a decent bed at night. In 20+ years I only had one incident where an employee tried to take advantage. A good a$$ chewing set him straight, and he was a model employee for years.

theColonel26 · Jul 26, 2022

Tom Jenkins said:
I never liked per diem, and I always paid my guys for actual travel and living expenses. Per diem is rarely enough to cover actual expenses, and I've seen people scrimp to live on the cheap to make it work. It leads to hard feelings and even impacts performance.

My staff worked their buns off when they were in the field, and I always told them the least I could do for them was give them good meals, a cold beer at the end of the day, and a decent bed at night. In 20+ years I only had one incident where an employee tried to take advantage. A good a$$ chewing set him straight, and he was a model employee for years.

We have no Per Diem. When I first started my boss questioned my spending a few times and I had a good answer for all of it... well except the one time I upgraded to first class going home.... He gave me quite a talking to, not an *** chewing but rather I felt like scum of the earth when he was done. He is good with the guilt trips. I learned my lesson.

He leaves me alone now, haven't had any questions in a couple years.

I am salary, but the Hourly Techs get paid from when they get out of the car at the air port to when they get to the hotel, and get paid when ever they leave the hotel for work. So travel to site, time on site, any errands like going to and finding parts locally etc. is all paid. Also if you take a customer to dinner, that time is paid.

All of that just counts toward their weekly hours, so anything over 40 is time and a half.

I_Automation · Jul 26, 2022

Travel time is straight time - even if traveling 14 hours in a day, also 7 days a week and even if traveling on holidays.

Mileage in a vehicle is billed at $0.55 per mile and given to the vehicle owner, be that the company or the service tech in their own vehicle.

Also for certain jobs no one wants to go to and deal with that customer the pay is Portal-to-Portal, overtime after 8 hours a day, doubletime all Sundays and holidays. Since travel time is on the clock then it isn't billed separately, but expenses are.

Rob... · Jul 26, 2022

Paid from door to door, weather that's hotel or home if I'm at a client. If I'm in the office, just from when I clock in, till I clock out.

Any time over 8 hours is OT, and double for Sundays. Regardless of if it is travel or not.

Hotel, car etc.. is covered by company. An a $68 per day per diem, which used to be quite generous. In the last 12months though, it's about what it costs for a decent (non fast food) lunch and dinner with a beer.

Travel Pay - Hourly Employees

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