Does Travel Time Count as Working Hours? What Counts and What Doesn’t

“Does travel count as working hours?”

This is one of the most common questions in the HR field — and the answer is almost never a simple yes or no. It depends on factors like whether someone is exempt or non-exempt, whether they’re traveling same-day or overnight, and whether it’s their normal commute or work-related travel.

When employers get these distinctions wrong, they expose themselves to labor complaints. But when properly understood and applied, the rules build a foundation for both compliance and employee trust.

This guide breaks down the key distinctions in the rules on travel time and working hours; it also provides guidance on how to apply them to real scenarios at work.

Commuting Is Never Compensable, But Work Travel Usually Is

The distinction between commuting and work travel is the foundation of every travel time decision. Determining which category applies starts with where the employee is headed. An employee’s normal commute, for example — home to office, office to home — is never compensable.

But the moment an employee heads to a location other than their usual workplace, the rules change.

For example, traveling from one job site to another during the workday, trips to client locations, journeys to temporary assignments — all of that counts as work travel rather than commuting. This distinction also includes traveling directly from home to a client meeting, a different office location, or any work destination that isn’t an employee’s regular workplace. The key isn’t where the employee starts from; it’s whether the destination is their normal work location or somewhere else.

Here’s where it gets more nuanced: If employees pick up materials, receive instructions, or start any work duties before traveling, travel time becomes compensable from that point forward. The employee who stops by the warehouse to load equipment before driving to a job site? Their compensable time starts at the warehouse, not when they arrive at the site.

Same-Day Travel: Compensate Beyond the Normal Commute

Same-day trips to temporary work locations have a different compensation rule. When a non-exempt employee (someone entitled to overtime pay) travels to a different location for a special one-day assignment, they should be compensated for all travel time except their normal commute.

For example, Sarah normally commutes 30 minutes each way to the office. Today she’s driving two hours each way to a client site in another city, then returning home. The compensable portion is 1.5 hours each way — the two-hour travel time minus her normal 30-minute commute. That’s three extra hours of paid time for the day.

This applies whether the employee drives or rides as a passenger, and it applies even if the employee leaves from home rather than the office.

HR Tip

Make sure employees understand how to report same-day travel time before they travel, and that managers know to approve it. The most common compliance issue here is that employees don’t realize they should be tracking the extra time.

Unreported travel time creates hidden liability, which can surface during audits or with employee complaints. To help avoid the problem, add a brief explainer to your travel policy, include a reminder in booking confirmations, and train managers to ask, “How long was your travel today?” when employees return from client visits. A few minutes of proactive communication can prevent hours of retroactive correction.

Overnight Travel: Normal Working Hours Apply, Even on Weekends

Overnight trips also have their own logic. The key question is whether travel time “cuts across” the employee’s normal working hours.

If an employee normally works Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., any travel during those hours is compensable — even on weekends. For example, an employee travels on Sunday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. ahead of a Monday morning client meeting. The compensable travel time is from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. (the portion that overlaps with normal work hours), but not the hour from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

This nuance of the rule on compensating weekend travel time often surprises many employees and managers. Many people often feel like all weekend travel should count, or none of it should. But the rule is about travel relative to normal working hours, not which day of the week it is.

What’s not compensable for overnight trips:

• Travel as a passenger outside normal working hours (unless the employee is working during that time)
• Hotel time with freedom to use as personal time, even though the employee is away from home for work

What is compensable regardless of other rules:

• Any time the employee is driving, even outside normal hours (driving is considered work)
• Any time the employee is actively working — answering emails, taking calls, reviewing documents

What is the Difference Between Exempt vs. Non-Exempt Employees?

Travel time compensability rules apply primarily to non-exempt employees — those entitled to overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Non-exempt employees are typically paid hourly, though some salaried employees are also non-exempt depending on their role and salary level.

Exempt employees (most salaried professionals, managers, and executives) are paid the same regardless of travel time. There’s no legal requirement to compensate them for extra travel hours.

However, legal requirements and best practices aren’t the same thing. Excessive travel demands — especially those that eat into personal time — can lead to burnout and turnover among your most valuable employees.

A policy that’s technically legal but asks people to routinely give up their weekends for travel without acknowledgement isn’t a winning retention strategy.

HR Tip

Even when legal compliance isn’t at stake, fairness and transparency in travel expectations affect how people feel about working for you. Consider whether your culture acknowledges the real cost of travel time — even when you’re not legally required to pay for it.

Some organizations offer comp time, flexible scheduling, or simply explicit recognition for exempt employees who travel heavily. Others build travel expectations into role descriptions so candidates understand the commitment before accepting the role.

The point isn’t really to pay for every hour; it’s to ensure employees don’t feel their personal time is being taken for granted. Exit interviews often reveal that “too much travel” means “travel without appreciation,” not just “travel.”

How to Apply Travel Time Rules to Common Scenarios

The principles above are clear enough in isolation, but real travel rarely fits neatly into one category. Here’s how to apply these rules to the situations that your employees might actually face.

Conference Travel on a Sunday

An employee flies out Sunday afternoon for a Monday conference. If the travel occurs during their normal work hours (say, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), that portion is compensable even though it falls on Sunday. The 6 a.m. drive to the airport isn’t compensable. But the 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. flight is compensable.

Driving vs. Flying

If an employee chooses to drive when a reasonable flight option exists, you may only need to count the time a flight would have taken. Someone who drives eight hours to avoid a two-hour flight (plus airport time) doesn’t necessarily get paid for all eight hours, so clearly document your policy on this.

However, if driving is the reasonable or necessary option given the circumstances (bad weather, route without convenient flights, need for a vehicle at the destination), all driving time during work hours should be compensable

Working While Traveling

Time spent answering emails, taking calls, or reviewing documents during travel counts as work time — regardless of whether the travel itself would otherwise be compensable. An employee on a Saturday evening flight who’s responding to Slack messages the whole time is working, even if that travel window wouldn’t otherwise count.

Waiting at Airports

Waiting at airports is generally compensable if it occurs during normal work hours. An employee who normally works 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday would be compensated for airport waiting time between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on any day, including weekends.

However, when employees wait as passengers outside their regular work schedule, that time isn’t compensable unless they’re required to work during the wait.

The key is whether the employee is “waiting to be engaged” (free to leave and use their time as they see fit) or “engaged to wait” (required to stay ready). If an employee must respond to urgent emails or take calls during the airport wait, that working time becomes compensable regardless of when it occurs.

Time Zone Changes

Calculate compensable time using the employee’s home time zone schedule. If an employee normally works 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time and travels on the weekend, only the travel hours falling between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern are compensable, even if they’re traveling to the West Coast. This keeps the calculation consistent and prevents confusion about which hours count.

How to Build Travel Policies That Prevent Disputes

The best way to avoid travel time disputes is to create clear travel policies that eliminate ambiguity before employees get on the road. A few principles help:

• Communicate before travel, not after. The biggest source of disputes is employees who don’t understand the rules before they go. Make sure they know what’s compensable when they book, not when they submit expenses.
• Clearly document expectations. When is travel expected? What’s the process for reporting travel time? How should employees handle the “driving vs. flying” question? Put it in writing.
• Build in flexibility. Allowing employees to shift schedules within a workweek can reduce overtime costs while still compensating fairly. If Sunday travel adds three compensable hours, can the employee take Friday afternoon off to balance the week?
• Consider employee experience beyond compliance. Even when travel time isn’t legally required to be paid, think about how policies affect morale. The company that says, “We know Sunday travel is a sacrifice, and you can work with your manager to talk a half-day off on Monday,” builds more loyalty than one that says, “Technically, we don’t have to pay for that.”

How to Catch Compliance Issues Before They Escalate

Employers have a duty of care responsibility for employees who are traveling, but you can’t manage what you can’t see. When employees book travel outside your system — maybe because they found lower prices on consumer sites or used personal cards — you lose visibility into when and how much they’re traveling.

Off-platform bookings prevent you from knowing when flights depart and arrive, whether itineraries cut across normal working hours, or whether someone is quietly accumulating travel time that should be compensated. A non-exempt employee booking a 6 a.m. Sunday flight might not report those compensable hours, creating liability you can’t detect.

Real-time travel data helps HR spot potential issues before they escalate. Managing corporate travel through a centralized system also makes it easier to spot patterns of excessive weekend travel, or early-morning or late-night flights clustered in specific departments.

Even for individual trips, a centralized system lets you easily spot when employees are accumulating significant travel time proactively, rather than discovering problems during wage and hour audits.

Beyond compliance, travel visibility supports employee care. When you can see that someone has traveled three of the last four weekends, or that a team member’s flights consistently arrive after 10 p.m., managers can intervene before burnout sets in. A simple conversation acknowledging the travel burden and offering schedule flexibility shows you value employee well-being beyond legal minimums.

Knowing where employees are and when they’re traveling is also essential for employee safety. When travel disruptions occur, organizations need to know who’s affected, where they are, and how to reach them.

Navan is a unified travel and expense (T&E) platform that combines travel booking, corporate cards, and expense management. It offers a consumer-grade user experience and boasts 82–90% adoption rates. With Navan, booking takes just 6 minutes on average, so employees actually use the system rather than working around it. And the more that employees book trips on the platform, the greater the visibility you have over employee travel for compliance — without adding administrative burden.