Just started a new job with a new company and have hourly employees reporting to me who are being asked to travel for company purposes (cycle counts at third party warehouses).

Company policy (in line with FLSA) is that they are paid their standard hours on travel days (8 hrs) unless they do actual work beyond that for that day. However, travel time (outside miles and food reimbursement) is only qualified for paid hours for the 8-hr standard work schedule (assuming they do no other work before/during/after travel on that day).

I've got an employee who's been with the company for 25+ years and watches the clock by the second. This person booked a really awkward/inconvenient flight so that the travel time is 15 hours instead of what could have been a 6 hour direct flight. The employee is raising cane because they aren't going to be paid for the 14 hours...only the 6 (inclusive of travel time to airport).

Further, she's taking two newer employees with her who she's coached to do the same thing. The more experienced employee was trying to scare me into caving, saying of the hours weren't paid, the newer employees wouldn't go on the cycle count. I meet with them today.

I think what's really happening here is that the experiences employee wants to get paid 8 hours of overtime for sitting on a plane.

I'm thinking about pulling up the direct flight options in the meeting with employees and asking them why they feel the need to make a 6 hour direct flight trip into a 14 hour one that requires getting up at 3AM.


How do yalls companies handle travel policy for hourly employees?

me - id tell her to pound sand and book the most direct flight with the least amount of time it took to get to the destination.. i might could see some type of compensation if a layover occured but there would have to be documntaion not just her word

All of our flights are booked by one person (corporate travel agent). She knows to get the best deal with the least amount of travel time.

Before all this Covid crap I was on a plane 3 or 4 times a month. Sometimes more. We submit our travel plan before anything gets booked. Once approved which takes about an hour normally, we have the option to book it ourselves or the company can book it. Some folks want the points so that was an easy compromise. This keeps people from doing stupid things like that. We also have a corporate deal with enterprise/National for car rental so that is an easy thing as well. Our travel plan has when we need to be on site, and when we will be leaving. We use Marriott hotels so we add a hotel that is in a safe area that is close. Car rental if needed. Our travel person has a list of everyone’s preferences. So if you like delta over American she will see if there is a comparable delta flight. Or if you prefer Fairfield’s over courtyards, aisle seat vs windows. TSA pre check, if you have a passport, etc…. You can give her as much info as you would like.

“Got durn lazy millennials!!!”

Before I retired the City would only pay us for 8 hours on a travel day. Some officers questioned this and were told that is the way it is. That is the way it stayed.

There will always be someone trying to game the system so having them get pre-approval for the flight makes sense. This keeps them honest and they are much more likely to book direct/shortest flights.
Sad but there is always going to be someone who ruins it for everyone else and then everyone has to play by the new rules.

Your in charge. If they see your post they’re be ready for the meeting.

LEO and state agencies are exempt fr DOL laws, but in the real world that’s very illegal lol.

Sounds like your company needs a good travel policy.

You need to pull company policy and discuss with someone else internal in supervision or HR. Do not go around policy. I don’t know your environment, but if can prove that there was a shorter flight available that they deliberately avoided, you could explain to the hourly employees that if this is the type argument they want to have, then you can just move to having to approve travel arrangements causing OT ahead of time with them. If they keep running into situations where they “can only find flights causing OT”, then it looks like you will be needing to be directly involved with handling their travel schedule from here on out.

All travel and lodging is booked & paid by the company. Employees are given the itinerary. They are paid 8 hrs on the travel days.

Maybe make.policy where travel.plans must be approved by you first. Or make someone else responsible for making the travel arrangements. Sounds.like you have the fox guarding the henhouse now.

This.

Why even deal with the headache of having each individual person responsible.

If it’s came to the point of posting this to a forum, your company needs clear processes and policy put into place.

Sounds like the experienced employee is very experienced at gaming the system.

Make sure she understands there's a new sheriff and shut her down.

I don't cotton to any clock watchers and office staff trying to game the system. I'd fire her ass, not over this but I'd start looking for a reason and in the meantime I'd probably mention to her it's time for a new job..

Dead serious. Think about how much productivity the company has lost at that position over that 25 years.

Folks like this don't work for me.

1 person books all the travel at our offices and we are flexible on flights within reason. Hourly people are usually not traveling that would be rare.

I travel for work occasionally, outside of my normal area, and have never thought twice about the time it takes or more “compensation”. Our American workforce is in a bad place.

My time is valuable. If I’m in hourly and my company wants more of it, I want more money. I don’t work for free. I’m salaried now and have been for years, so it’s a moot point for me.

We have always worked 10 or 12 hours shifts...if you travel on an off day, you get paid OT (1.5x) for the travel time. If you travel on a scheduled work day, you get paid your normally scheduled hours; if I am scheduled to work 12 hours today but had to travel 4 hours, I would still get 12 hrs pay. If travel took over 12 hrs, I would get my normal 12 hrs pay, plus OT (1.5x) for anything over the 12 hrs. All of our travel arrangements have to be booked on our expense management program (Concur) and approved by management, and in some cases, upper management; upper management has turned down some arrangements when there were shorter flights than what the employee originally booked.

Unless it's in the travel policy that employees are to take the most direct flight, less time-consuming flight and/or less expensive flight, you'll either have to dig in and hold fast or let it go this time and update the travel policy.

Common sense and logic isn't used by most folks to begin with, and especially if they can make $$$ on overtime. She knows this and deliberately booked the longer flight.

You're the boss. Dig in or let it go this time and update the policy.


Additionally, if I travel for company time they're either paying me or I'm taking time off. My time is valuable. I don't travel on my time for them. But I also wouldn't book a 15-hour flight when a direct is possible.


Another also ... Goatkiller's mention of having someone book travel for the office is good. If your office travels a lot, hammerhead, you might want to suggest that. Hire someone experienced in it or contract with a travel agency.