Labor Department Clarifies When Remote-Work Travel Must Be Paid

The U.S. Department of Labor issued two opinion letters on July 22, 2026, explaining when commuting and pre-shift activities may count as paid work under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The letters address specific workplace facts rather than creating a universal new rule. They matter to nonexempt employees who split a day between home and an office, as well as field-service workers who receive assignments or perform tasks before traveling to a first job.

What the two letters address

FLSA2026-9 considers a voluntary split-day schedule in which an employee works at home, travels to an office during the day and may later return home to finish work. The Wage and Hour Division said the mid-day trip can remain an ordinary, unpaid commute when the employee is fully relieved from duty and the travel primarily benefits the employee.

The timing alone does not turn the trip into paid travel between job sites. A commute that occurs during the day is not automatically compensable simply because the employee worked at home earlier or will work again after arriving.

But the work performed at home is a separate question. If a nonexempt employee performs job duties before leaving or after arriving, that time must still be recorded and paid. Unpaid travel does not erase paid work performed at either location.

Receiving an assignment is not the same as doing work

FLSA2026-10 examines a field-service worker who receives pages, calls clients to schedule appointments and coordinates with other workers before driving to a first client.

The Labor Department distinguished between merely receiving pages or assignments and actively carrying out job duties. Simply receiving an assignment generally is not compensable. Calling clients, scheduling appointments and coordinating other workers can be integral and indispensable to the employee’s principal work, however, making that time compensable.

That distinction matters to workers who start the day at home or in an employer-provided vehicle. A company vehicle does not automatically make every mile paid, and working from home does not automatically make every pre-departure activity unpaid.

When the drive to the first job may become paid work

The drive to a first client may become compensable after the employee has begun principal work. The Labor Department’s analysis considers whether the employer controls the timing and manner of travel, requires substantial work before or during the trip, and limits the freedom normally associated with an ordinary commute.

For example, a drive may be treated differently when the worker must complete client calls and coordinate assignments before leaving, or when the worker performs those duties while traveling under employer direction. A flexible schedule with no required work during the trip may preserve the character of an ordinary commute.

Ogletree Deakins, an employment-law firm that reviewed the letters, described the analysis as fact-specific and centered on who primarily benefits from the time, how much control the employer exercises and whether the employee retains the freedom of a normal commute.

The federal baseline still applies

The Labor Department’s general guidance says ordinary travel from home to work and back is usually not work time. Travel between job sites during the workday is generally compensable, as is travel that is part of an employee’s principal activity.

That baseline comes from the department’s general hours-worked guidance, including Fact Sheet #22, which was revised in July 2008. The fact sheet provides background on existing federal principles; it is not the July 2026 development itself.

The new letters add detail to how those principles may apply in hybrid and field-service settings. They do not establish that every mid-day commute is unpaid or that every employer-directed trip is paid. The facts and the degree of employer control remain important.

What workers and employers should do

Workers should keep accurate records of client calls, scheduling, coordination, required travel and work performed at home outside scheduled hours. They should also check state wage-and-hour rules, which may provide broader protections or compensation requirements than federal law.

Employers should review hybrid-work policies, dispatch procedures, travel instructions and timekeeping systems. The central question is whether the system captures all time actually worked while distinguishing ordinary commuting from travel that serves the employer’s operational needs.

Opinion letters are official written interpretations applied to the facts presented in a request. The Wage and Hour Division says conclusions depend on the accuracy and completeness of those facts, so the letters may not resolve every other hybrid, dispatch or field-service arrangement.

Future court decisions, state enforcement actions or additional Labor Department guidance could clarify how the framework applies in other workplaces.

Sources

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