Pay for Drive Time and Windshield Time: Decision Tree
Why this matters
A tech drives forty-five minutes between two job sites, then asks whether that counts as paid time. Get the answer wrong in one direction and you underpay someone for real working time, which is a wage claim waiting to happen. Get it wrong in the other direction and you overpay for time nobody actually asked you to pay, eroding margin on every multi-stop day. This is not a judgment call you make fresh each time it comes up. There is an actual legal baseline, and then there is the policy layer you build on top of it. Work through both, in order.
Start here: which kind of drive time is this
Not all windshield time is treated the same. Sort the trip first.
- Home to the first job of the day, and the last job back home (the ordinary commute) sits in one bucket.
- Job site to job site during the workday sits in a second bucket.
- A special one-off trip, an emergency callback from home, a supply run mid-shift, hauling equipment to a remote job sits in a third bucket.
Each bucket has a different default answer.
Bucket 1: the ordinary commute
If a tech drives their own vehicle from home to the first job and from the last job back home, this is normally treated as ordinary commuting and is not compensable working time under federal wage and hour law. This is the default baseline, not a shop-specific choice.
If the tech drives a company vehicle and is required to make stops, pick up materials, or transport tools or other employees on that first or last leg, the calculation can change, because the trip is no longer purely personal commuting, it now includes tasks performed for the employer's benefit. If your techs take company vehicles home overnight, confirm with an employment attorney or your state labor office whether that arrangement affects how the commute is classified in your state, since state rules vary more here than federal ones do.
Bucket 2: job to job during the workday
This is the bucket most owners get wrong, and the safe default is: pay it. Once a tech has started the workday, travel between assignments is generally treated as time worked, compensable at least at the applicable rate, because the tech is under your direction and unable to use that time freely for their own purposes. This holds whether the tech is driving a company vehicle or their own.
If you are not currently paying job-to-job drive time and have techs running multiple stops a day, this is worth fixing before it becomes a claim, not after. If you already pay it, confirm it is being calculated at the correct rate, some shops pay a flat reduced rate for drive time versus billable labor time, which is permissible in many jurisdictions as long as the blended rate across the week still meets minimum wage and overtime is calculated correctly on the combined hours, not just the labor hours.
Bucket 3: special trips and on-call travel
A tech called back from home for an emergency, or sent on a mid-shift supply run, is working time from the moment they leave until the task is done, including the travel portion. This is a clear compensable case and is rarely disputed once identified correctly.
If a tech is on a standby or on-call rotation and simply carries a phone without restriction on their movement or activities, the standby time itself is often not compensable, but any actual call-out, from the call to the return, generally is. If the on-call restrictions are tight enough that the tech cannot meaningfully use the time for their own purposes (must stay within a short response radius, cannot drink, must remain reachable at all times), the standby time itself may need to be compensable too. This determination is fact-specific and state rules diverge, so do not assume your current on-call setup is compliant without a direct check.
Does overtime change because of this
Yes, and this is the part shops most often miss. Compensable drive time counts toward the weekly hours total for overtime purposes the same as any other working time. A tech who works thirty-six hours of labor plus six hours of compensable job-to-job drive time has worked forty-two hours that week, not thirty-six, and the two hours over the standard threshold owe overtime. Paying drive time at a lower rate than labor time does not remove it from the overtime hour count, it only affects the rate the overtime premium is calculated against.
Building the actual policy
Once the legal floor is clear, the policy choices sit on top of it.
| Decision | Common approach | What it protects |
|---|---|---|
| Rate for job-to-job drive time | Same as labor rate, or a defined lower rate | Either is generally permissible if disclosed and tracked; confirm the lower-rate approach against your state's rules |
| Tracking method | GPS-linked time clock, or manual log per stop | Accurate records are your defense if a wage claim is ever filed |
| First-stop and last-stop drive time | Unpaid commute by default, paid if company-vehicle tasks are required | Matches the legal baseline; avoids overpaying pure commuting |
| Mileage or vehicle cost | Reimbursed separately from wage time, tracked distinctly | Keeps mileage reimbursement from being confused with wage compliance |
If your techs use their own vehicles for job-to-job travel, layer a mileage reimbursement on top of the drive-time wage question. These are two separate obligations, one covers vehicle wear and fuel cost, the other covers the tech's time, and conflating them is a common source of confusion on both sides.
Before you change anything
- Confirm your state's specific rules on commute, drive time, and on-call restrictions, since several states set a higher bar than the federal floor.
- Put the policy in writing and share it with the crew before the next pay period it affects, not retroactively.
- Start tracking drive time accurately if you are not already, GPS-linked timestamps or a simple per-stop log both work, as long as the record is real and contemporaneous.
- Run last quarter's actual schedule through the new policy to see the real cost before you commit to it company-wide.
The bottom line
Ordinary commuting stays unpaid by default. Job-to-job travel during the workday is paid time, full stop, and it counts toward overtime. Special call-outs and supply runs are paid from the moment the tech leaves. The details that vary, standby restrictions, company-vehicle commute rules, the exact drive-time rate, are where state law and your specific policy choices come in, and that is where a direct check with an employment attorney or your state labor office earns its cost.
References
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Fact Sheet on travel time under the Fair Labor Standards Act
- 29 CFR 785.35-785.41 (travel time rules)
- See related: FLSA Overtime Rules for Trade Businesses