Middlebury Handbook

Definition

Travel time is the time spent actively traveling between the normal work site and another location where work will be performed.  Commuting time to and from the normal workplace is not considered travel time under this policy.

Non-exempt (Hourly) Employees

Occasionally non-exempt (hourly) College employees are required to travel within the United States and/or abroad. Pay for non-exempt employees traveling on business is governed by provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  Under FLSA regulations non-exempt employees are eligible for compensation for the time they spend traveling in excess of their normal commute. The number of compensable travel hours depends on whether the trip is one day only or overnight, and whether the travel time takes place within normal or outside of normal work hours.

Travel time will be paid at the employee’s regular hourly rate, or overtime rate when the total number of hours worked is in excess of 40 in a pay week (Monday through Sunday), in accordance with Middlebury College's normal overtime policy.

Same Day Travel

From/To The Normal Workplace:  For non-exempt employees who report to the normal work site prior to traveling, all time spent traveling between work locations during a single workday is considered work time and as such will be paid time.

From/To Home: When an employee departs directly from his/her home for work-related travel (that is, begins travel without first going to the normal work location), and when an employee returns directly home from work-related travel (without first reporting to the work location) normal commuting time should be deducted from the travel time.

Overnight Travel
When travel keeps the employee away from home overnight any portion of authorized travel time that takes place within normal work hours on any day of the week, including Saturday and Sunday, is treated as work hours.

To calculate worked time when an employee is away from home overnight the employee should only report time that cuts across normal work hours.  When traveling to a location, worked time will include time from when the employee leaves home until the employee reaches his/her destination, less the employee’s normal commute time. The destination is either the hotel or the work site (whichever location the employee travels directly to). If the employee is returning home from a remote location, the destination is the employee’s regular worksite.  If the employee travels directly from the remote worksite to home, then the travel time is calculated as the time from the remote worksite to home, less the employee’s normal commute time.

When an employee travels between two or more time zones, the time zone associated with the point of departure should be used to determine the number of work hours and whether or not the travel falls within normal work hours.

Once the employee has reached the away work destination travel between the hotel and worksite is considered normal commuting time and is not eligible for compensation unless the employee is asked to, or volunteers to, drive another employee to the worksite, in which has the time would be considered work time.

Free time, time spent sleeping, eating meals, and other personal activities is not considered work time and is not compensated.

Exempt (Salaried) Employees

Exempt (salaried) employees are not paid on the basis of hours worked, and therefore there is no pay adjustment for time spent traveling outside of regular hours.  In certain cases exempt employees may be able to “flex” their schedules when traveling, but such flex time is not intended as compensatory time and is subject to approval by the employee’s manager.

Travel Expenses

Employees are reimbursed for out-of-pocket travel expenses allowable under Middlebury College’s Travel, Entertainment and Expense Policy and Procedures.

Note:  This policy applies to employees whose travel is incidental to their work (that is, employees who are traveling somewhere to do their work); it is not intended to apply to those employees whose work is the travel itself.  For example, this policy does not apply to employees who are engaged to drive vans transporting students or other employees or to employees  engaged to transport materials between campus locations; all such driving time is regular work time, not travel time.