Travel Time Pay for Construction Workers: A Quick Guide

Construction crews do not always have one fixed commute. A worker may start at home, report to the yard, pick up materials, drive to one job, move to another job after lunch, and finish somewhere else. The pay treatment can change from one segment to the next.

The federal baseline comes from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) hours-worked rules and related travel regulations. The U.S. Department of Labor explains that ordinary commuting is generally not work time, while travel that is part of an employee’s principal activity, such as job-site-to-job-site travel during the workday, is work time. State rules can be more protective, so contractors should check the law that applies where the employee works. See the U.S. Department of Labor’s hours-worked guidance.

Does the Fair Labor Standards Act address travel time pay for construction workers?

Yes. Federal rules distinguish ordinary commuting from travel that is part of the workday. Whether travel counts as paid work depends on the worker’s required duties, when the workday begins, and the purpose of the trip.

• Home to the first regular job site: Ordinary home-to-work travel is generally not hours worked, even when an employee reports to different job sites. See 29 CFR 785.35.
• Yard or shop to a job site after required duties: If a worker must report to a meeting place to receive instructions, pick up tools, load materials, or perform another principal activity before traveling to the site, the later travel can be part of the day’s work. See 29 CFR 785.38.
• Job site to job site: Travel from one work site to another during the workday is generally work time under the federal rule.
• Special one-day assignment: If an employee who normally works at a fixed location is sent to another city for a special one-day assignment and returns the same day, the extra travel is generally work time, although the employer may exclude the employee’s normal commute. See 29 CFR 785.37.
• Overnight travel: Travel away from the employee’s home community during normal working hours is generally compensable under the federal rule. Passenger travel outside normal working hours is generally treated differently, but work actually performed while traveling remains work time. See 29 CFR 785.39 and 29 CFR 785.41.

A company vehicle does not automatically turn a normal commute into paid time under federal law. The Department of Labor notes that home-to-work travel in an employer-provided vehicle can remain noncompensable when it is within the normal commuting area and the vehicle use is subject to an agreement with the employee or employee representative. State law may reach a different result in some circumstances.

The Portal-to-Portal Act (29 U.S.C. § 254) generally excludes certain preliminary and postliminary travel from federal hours worked. Its employer-vehicle provision addresses normal commuting-area trips made under an agreement with the worker or their representative. It does not excuse required principal work or override more protective state rules.

Scenario	General federal treatment	What can change it	What to document
Home to first job site	Usually ordinary commuting and unpaid	Required work before travel, state law, contract, or collective bargaining agreement	Normal reporting location and any required pre-trip duties
Yard or shop to first site after required duties	Generally compensable once required principal work has begun	Whether the yard stop is required and what the worker must do there	Arrival, required tasks, departure, destination
Site A to Site B	Generally compensable as travel during the workday	A long period when the worker is completely relieved for personal use may be treated differently	Departure, arrival, route or travel record, project or cost code
Special one-day assignment in another city	Generally compensable, less the normal commute under the federal rule	State law and the facts of the assignment	Normal commute, assignment location, actual travel time
Take-home company vehicle	Not automatically compensable under federal law	Required duties, vehicle restrictions, agreement terms, and state law	Vehicle policy, required tasks, normal commuting area
Overnight trip	Travel during normal working hours is generally compensable. Passenger travel outside those hours is generally treated differently under federal rules.	Driving duties, work performed while traveling, state law, and agreements.	Regular work hours, travel itinerary, driving or work duties.

Is travel time pay for hourly employees subject to standard wage and hour laws?

Yes. If travel time counts as hours worked, it belongs in the employee’s wage-and-hour record. For a nonexempt employee, compensable travel hours also count toward the federal 40-hour overtime threshold. State overtime rules may add requirements.

Federal law can allow different non-overtime rates for different kinds of work, including an agreed travel rate, as long as the arrangement follows applicable minimum-wage and overtime rules. When an employee works at two or more rates in the same workweek, the regular rate used for federal overtime is generally based on the weighted average described in 29 CFR 778.115. Contractors using separate travel rates should document them clearly and check state law, collective bargaining agreements, and any other applicable pay requirements. For the calculation workflow, see Workyard’s guide to construction overtime pay.

Being paid a salary alone does not make a worker exempt from overtime. Exemption depends on applicable duties and pay tests; federal white-collar exemptions do not cover ordinary manual construction work. See the DOL exemption guidance.

Example: Paid driving can create overtime. An electrician records 38 hours installing conduit and 5 hours of compensable travel between jobs in the same workweek. That is 43 hours worked, so 3 hours are overtime under the usual federal rule for a nonexempt worker. 

At one $25 hourly rate, and assuming no other regular-rate adjustments or state-specific requirements, gross pay is 40 × $25 + 3 × $37.50 = $1,112.50. If different work and travel rates apply, use the applicable regular-rate method instead of this single-rate example. See DOL Fact Sheet #23 and 29 CFR 778.115.

What are the state regulations for travel time pay for construction workers?

State law can be more protective than the federal baseline, so there is no safe 50-state shortcut. Contractors should check the labor agency guidance, wage orders, statutes, and applicable case law in every state where crews work.

California is one example. In Morillion v. Royal Packing Co., the California Supreme Court held that required travel on employer-provided buses was compensable where the employer required workers to meet at designated departure points, use the buses, and prohibited them from using their own transportation. The court also made clear that optional employer transportation does not automatically make ordinary commuting compensable. California’s rule turns heavily on employer control. See the Morillion decision and related California DLSE guidance.

A written travel policy helps with consistency, but it cannot waive wages that are legally due. Union or project labor agreements may also create travel-pay obligations beyond the statutory baseline.

Oregon is another example. The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries distinguishes ordinary commuting from site-to-site travel that must be paid. For a worker with a normal fixed workplace, a required special one-day assignment more than 30 miles away generally triggers paid travel under Oregon’s published guidance. Review its Travel Time & Mileage guidance. This Oregon-specific distance condition should not be generalized to other states.

Do I need to reimburse employees for mileage?

Paid travel time and mileage reimbursement are separate. Travel-time pay compensates an employee for time that legally counts as work. Mileage reimbursement repays the employee for business use of a personal vehicle or other work-related travel costs.

Item	What it covers	Keep separate in your records
Paid travel time	Compensable employee time, such as job-to-job travel during the workday	Hours, pay rate, overtime treatment, job or cost code.
Mileage reimbursement	Business vehicle expense, often for use of a personal vehicle	Business miles, trip purpose, reimbursement method, receipts or log when required.
Per diem or travel allowance	Meals, lodging, or incidental travel costs under the employer’s policy	Dates, destination, business purpose, allowance or substantiation method

The IRS standard mileage rate is a tax and substantiation reference, not a universal rule that determines whether an employer must reimburse mileage. State law can create a reimbursement duty. In California, for example, Labor Code section 2802 requires employers to indemnify employees for necessary expenditures incurred in direct consequence of their duties. For the current calculation method and rate, use Workyard’s mileage reimbursement guide. For daily allowances, see per diem for construction workers.

For federal tax purposes, documented business mileage reimbursement and qualifying per diem may be excluded from taxable wages when the arrangement meets IRS accountable-plan rules, including business connection, substantiation and return of excess advances. Amounts that do not meet those rules, and some allowances above permitted limits, may be taxable wages. Tax treatment does not determine whether drive time is compensable.

How to write a construction company travel-time policy

A good construction company travel policy should tell crews exactly when paid time starts, how drive time is recorded, and who resolves exceptions. It should be specific enough for a foreman to apply on a normal Tuesday without calling payroll for every trip.

• Define the normal reporting point. State whether workers ordinarily report to a job site, yard, shop, or another location.
• Define when the paid workday begins and ends. Address required shop duties, loading tools or materials, dispatch instructions, and other pre-trip work.
• Cover site-to-site moves. Explain how workers record travel between jobs, service calls, or cost codes. Specify who approves unusual routes, detours, or additional stops, and how crews should document them.
• Separate hours from expenses. State how paid drive time, mileage reimbursement, tolls, parking, lodging, and per diem are handled.
• Set the recordkeeping method. Identify the time entry, travel code, project, cost code, or report that payroll will use.
• Set an approval process. Define who reviews travel entries, when they are due, and how a worker corrects a missing or inaccurate record.
• Address state and union overrides. Make clear that applicable law or a collective bargaining agreement controls when it gives the worker greater rights.
• Explain location tracking. If GPS is used, tell workers when location data is collected and how it supports time-card review.

Set a dispute route: Workers should flag an incorrect or missing travel entry to their foreman or payroll contact before the payroll cutoff when possible. Record the original entry, the worker’s explanation, the reviewer’s decision, and any correction. A reporting deadline must not be used to withhold wages that are legally due.

Missing compensable driving hours can lead to unpaid wage and overtime claims, back-pay liability and, depending on the circumstances and applicable law, additional damages or penalties. Review questionable entries before payroll closes rather than treating an unapproved trip as automatically unpaid. See the DOL hours-worked guidance.

Do not use a policy to convert legally compensable time into unpaid time. The policy should document the rule your business follows, not replace the wage law that applies to the worker.

How to accurately track travel time pay

Reliable travel-pay records show where a trip started, where the crew went, how long the trip took, and which job should carry the cost. A foreman can compare route history and arrival times with the crew’s time cards, then flag missing or unusual entries before they reach payroll. Keep client-billable travel and employee wages in separate records when contract billing terms differ from wage requirements.

Example: A plumbing crew reports to the yard at 6:45 a.m. to load materials, drives to a service job at 7:15 a.m., and transfers to a second job at 11:30 a.m. Record the required yard work, the relevant paid drives and the job change. When pricing similar calls later, use approved historical hours and documented mileage to estimate the cost of dispatching the crew, rather than assuming every hour was spent installing or repairing.

When a customer contract permits travel charges, keep the invoice treatment separate from the wage record. A contractor may bill a client by a negotiated minimum or travel charge without changing the hours legally owed to the worker.

How to track and approve construction paid drive time

The cleanest workflow is to capture the facts first, then apply the pay rule. A GPS record can show that a worker left the yard at 7:10 a.m. and reached the first site at 7:42 a.m. It does not, by itself, decide whether those 32 minutes are legally compensable.

1. Capture the start point. Record when the worker begins paid work under your policy, such as after required yard duties.
2. Capture the travel segment. Keep departure, arrival, route, and travel duration when those records are available.
3. Keep the destination tied to the job. Use the correct project and, where your job-costing workflow requires it, the correct cost code.
4. Review exceptions before payroll. Look for missing punches, unexpected gaps, wrong projects, unusually long trips, or travel recorded outside the expected workday.
5. Allow corrections with an audit trail. The worker or supervisor should be able to flag an error without silently rewriting an otherwise accurate labor record.
6. Approve the time card. Make a supervisor or manager responsible for confirming the time record before payroll.
7. Send approved wage data downstream. Map approved hours to the payroll or accounting system using the supported integration or export. Keep mileage and other expense records separate unless the destination system specifically supports those fields.

This is also where travel data becomes useful for construction job costing. If paid drive time belongs to a specific project, the labor record should preserve that assignment instead of letting travel disappear into general overhead.

Preparing travel-time records for payroll

Once a supervisor has approved the drive-time entries, the office should check that compensable travel hours are included in weekly hours worked, that applicable rates and overtime are correct, and that the time is assigned to the right job or travel cost code. For example, the drive from an electrical rough-in to a service call should not vanish from payroll just because the crew changed jobs midshift.

Approved hours can then be entered or transferred to the contractor’s payroll system through a supported workflow. Mileage reimbursements, tolls and per diem remain distinct expense items, while labor hours feed payroll and job-cost records. The payroll provider handles wage payments and applicable withholding; Workyard does not independently determine legal travel-pay status or file payroll taxes.

Can GPS automatically identify travel between jobs?

GPS tracking can capture travel between jobs. Automatically separating drive time from time at a job depends on continuous tracking, geofences, and the software’s assignment rules. GPS timestamps, geofence events, and driving routes provide evidence of when and where workers traveled. They do not determine whether those hours must legally be paid.

With Workyard’s GPS time clock, contractors can record driving activity, mileage, and travel time while workers are clocked in and continuous GPS tracking is enabled. When a project geofence already exists before arrival, Workyard can assign detected travel time and mileage to that job under the configured tracking rules.

On Autopilot, automatic project time rules can assign driving time to the next visited job, split it across visited jobs, or leave it unallocated. Contractors can also configure a driving cost code.

These records help supervisors review travel time and approve time cards. Employers remain responsible for determining which travel hours are compensable under applicable wage laws.

Track travel time pay for construction workers with Workyard

Workyard helps contractors capture and review field records, including time cards, GPS location history, driving routes, mileage, travel time, job assignments, and approvals. These capabilities depend on continuous GPS tracking and the appropriate job and time-assignment settings. GPS data is collected during clocked-in work, while location information during breaks is hidden for worker privacy.

For payroll, the handoff depends on the connected system and account configuration. Workyard’s QuickBooks Online integration guide documents export fields for regular, overtime, and double-time hours, projects, and cost codes. QuickBooks Online Payroll users may need to map payroll pay types during export. Workyard also documents additional configuration steps for accounts affected by export/API limitations. Contractors should verify the transfer in their own setup rather than assume every export runs without intervention.

Automatically calculated mileage and travel-time values on Workyard time cards cannot be edited directly in the app. The downloaded CSV report can be manually adjusted when reconciliation is needed. Keep that adjustment distinct from reviewing or correcting compensable wage hours. Workyard does not determine legal travel-pay entitlement, file payroll taxes, or replace the contractor’s payroll provider.

For crews moving between jobs, Workyard’s travel records help supervisors check where hours were spent, review discrepancies before payroll, and assign approved labor time to the right job. Contractors can also track employee hours, mileage, and expenses together while keeping compensable travel hours separate from expense reimbursements.

A commercial construction contractor using Workyard found that its crew could spend up to six hours driving in a day. Tracking that time helped the owner understand where crew hours went and plan vehicle maintenance. Read the customer story.

This article provides general information, not legal or tax advice. Travel-pay requirements vary by state, employment arrangement, and applicable agreements. If you have legal or payroll counsel, consult them when reviewing your policy.