COMMUTE
Ordinary Home → Work
Ordinary travel from home to the regular workday and the return home afterward is generally not hours worked under the federal FLSA rules.
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Federal Hours-Worked Guide
Work & Travel Time
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Is It Work — Or Is It a Commute?
For field technicians, the answer can change when required work begins or ends.
WORK
Required Duty → Customer
When a required work-related duty occurs before reaching the job site, subsequent required travel may become hours worked.
Home → Ordinary First Work Location
Generally ordinary commuting under the federal rule, assuming no compensable work activity changes the analysis.
Required Work Stop → Customer
DOL's Hours Worked Advisor gives examples including picking up supplies or equipment and stopping at the employer's business for tools, instructions or other work.
Customer → Customer
Travel from job site to job site during the workday is generally compensable work time.
Customer → Required Return
If a technician must continue performing duties or make another required work stop, the workday may continue through that activity.
Last Work Duty → Home
After the final work-related duty is completed, subsequent ordinary travel home may again be commuting time.
FIELD TECH EXAMPLE
HOME→
OFFICE / REQUIRED DUTY→
CUSTOMER A→
CUSTOMER B→
REQUIRED RETURN→
HOME
The key question isn't simply whether the technician is driving. Required duties, when they occur, and what travel follows them matter.
Source links reviewed September 20, 2026.
Rules and guidance can change; open the primary source
for the current text.
DOL Fact Sheet #22 ↗
DOL Hours Worked Advisor — Commuting ↗
DOL Hours Worked Advisor — Work Duties ↗
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