FLSA addresses compensation for a non-exempt employee’s travel. It specifies that time spent commuting to and from work is not considered time worked. However, there are special provisions for non-exempt employees who travel for business reasons such as attending a conference. It states that travel hours that cut across the workday are considered time worked and thus will be compensated.

The US Department of Labor considers Saturday and Sunday part of an employee’s work week when they travel for business. If the employee’s schedule is 8:00 to 4:30, Monday through Friday, the same time over the weekend is recognized as potential work time.

Scenario 1

An employee travels to a conference on Sunday, leaving Burlington at 1:00 p.m. and arriving in Boston at 6:00 p.m.

Since they are eligible to be paid for travel time between 8:00 and 4:30, the employee is entitled to receive credit for travel between 1:00 and 4:30, or 3.5 hours.

Scenario 2

The employee attends the conference events beginning Monday morning at 8:30 am., including the conference luncheon with a keynote speaker, and concluding the afternoon session at 4:00 p.m. They prepare for a leisurely dinner with friends and return to the hotel at 7:00 pm.

The employee is eligible to receive compensation for the time they spent in conference events. In this case, their work time was from 8:30 to 4:00, including the “working” lunch with the keynote speaker. The time spent preparing for and attending dinner is not compensated.

Scenario 3

Rather than return home in the morning, the employee decides to visit a museum and grab a late lunch. they depart Boston at 3:00 pm on Wednesday afternoon for the trip home, arriving in Burlington at 8:00 p.m.

Since the employee left Boston at 3:00 and the work day ends at 4:30, they are entitled to only 1.5 hours of compensation.

FLSA states that an employer must establish a standard work week. The work week must be a 7-day period with 24 hours in each day. The employer may not change the work week to avoid paying overtime. The rate at which hours worked in excess of the employee's full-time standard hours during the week must be paid at one and a half times the regular rate.

Some UVM union contracts provide overtime pay for hours worked in excess of the scheduled work day.

For temporary employees, the rule mirrors the FLSA policy, that overtime is paid when they exceed the number of full-time standard hours in a given work week.

An alternative to receiving overtime pay for extra hours worked is to earn time off. This is called compensatory time, also known as comp time.

• Non-exempt staff may choose between compensation in dollars or in compensatory time up to 40 hours of compensatory time. 
• After 40 hours of comp time has been accumulated, supervisors may choose either to pay for overtime in dollars or comp time. However, it is always the employee’s right to choose to be paid in dollars.
• Accumulated comp time must not exceed 80 hours. Overtime must be paid in dollars until accumulated comp time falls below 80 hours.

Using comp time

• If using two days or less, employee should notify the supervisor at least 72 hours ahead of time
• If using more than two days, employee should notify the supervisor at least two weeks in advance
• Using comp time must not unduly disrupt the operations of the department
• When transferring to another college or department or when employment ends with UVM, the employee must be paid for all unused comp time in dollars

Management is responsible for ensuring that all time worked is documented accurately. If the non-exempt employee can document overtime hours and management cannot, then the employee will earn that compensation.

The Federal Labor and Standards Act stipulates that breaks of less than 30 minutes must count as hours worked. Uninterrupted breaks of 30 minutes or more do not count as time worked. In some situations, like eating lunch at one’s desk, break and work time are indistinguishable. Therefore, UVM discourages that practice.

The FLSA Child Labor provisions ensure that when young people work, it is safe and does not jeopardize their health, well-being or educational opportunities.

• Work is restricted for children ages 16 and younger
• Restrictions are based on age, occupation, time of year, and hours to be worked
• Children who are 14 and older may work in an office, grocery store, retail store, movie theater or at a gasoline service station

A child may not work:

• In communications or public utilities
• In construction or repair
• Outside the cab of a motor vehicle assisting in the transportation or delivery of goods
• In public messenger jobs
• In work rooms where products are manufactured, mined or processed

At age 16, a child may work in any occupation that has not been declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor. Those include the following: 

• Manufacturing and storing of explosives
• Operating a motor vehicle or working outside the cab assisting in the transportation or delivery of goods
• Mining
• Exposure to radioactive substances
• Meat packing or processing and all power-driven meat slicing machines
• Power driven circular saws, band saws, etc.
• Roofing operations
• Excavation operations

Once a child reaches the age of 18, they are no longer covered by the child labor provision.