Table of Contents: Chapter 2

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206 NON-EXEMPT EMPLOYEES TRAVEL AND TRAINING TIME (Effective 03/07/2022)

206.1 Travel Pay

Non-exempt employees attending training or traveling on business will be paid for such travel and training in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Exempt employees do not receive any additional compensation for attending training or traveling because pay for such activities is already included in such employee’s regularly salary.

Training and travel time will be paid at the employee’s regular hourly rate, or overtime rate when the total number of hours worked exceeds 40 in a work week. Non-exempt employees (regular, limited term or temporary) must be compensated for time spent traveling based on the guidelines outlined below.

206.2 Attending Training

a. Approval Required: All training, whether directed by the City or requested by the employee, must be approved in advance by the employee’s department director. The department director has the authority to reschedule an employee’s hours of work and/or days worked to attend training.

b. Compensable Time: Time attending any work-related training, program, seminar, conference, convention, course or workshop is compensable time when:
i. the costs for such training, program, seminar, conference, convention, course or workshop were paid by the City; or
ii. the training, program, seminar, conference, convention, course or workshop occurs during the employee’s regular work hours.

c. Non-Compensable Time: Time attending training, program, seminar, conference, convention, course or workshop is not compensable when all four of the following criteria are met:
i. Attendance is outside of the employee's regular working hours; and
ii. Attendance is voluntary; and
iii. The course, lecture, or meeting is not directly related to the employee's job; and
iv. The employee does not perform any productive work during such attendance.

206.3 Travel Time

a. Commuting Time: Time spent by an employee commuting to and from work is not work related travel and is not compensable time. This applies even if the employee is directed to travel from home to a different work site in the City of Lee’s Summit.

If an employee departs directly from his/her home and/or if an employee returns directly home from the alternative work site, any travel time in addition the employee’s normal commute time is compensable. If the travel time to the alternative work site is equal to or less than the employee’s normal commute time, compensable time begins when the employee reaches the alternate work site and begins work.

b. Same Day Travel: Travel time, as driver or passenger, is compensable work time when it (i) occurs on an employee’s normal workday (before, during, and/or after normal work hours), (ii) is part of the employee’s work assignment for the City, and (iii) is not commuting time.

c. Overnight Travel: If work related travel that keep an employee away from home overnight, the portion of travel time that occurs within the employee’s normal working hours (even on weekends and holidays) is compensable time. If the employee departs directly from his/her home and/or if an employee returns directly home for work-related travel, the normal commute time should be deducted from hours worked.
Time spent traveling outside the employee’s normal working hours is only compensable if the employee (i) is driving, or (ii) performs authorized work on behalf of the City while traveling.

d. Exclusions from Travel Time:
i. Regular meal period time is not considered compensable time while traveling.
ii. Free time, time spent sleeping, eating meals, and other personal or social activities is not considered work time and is not compensable time.

e. Special Travel Notations: When traveling for the City, employees will be compensated a minimum of their normal hours scheduled for the workday.
If the hours prior to an employee’s flight are within the employee’s normal working hours, the employee will be compensated from the arrival time at the airport (up to two hours prior to the flight) unless the flight is delayed. If the flight is delayed, the employee will be compensated for all hours associated with the delay upon arrival to the airport. When an employee travels between two or more time zones, the time zone associated with the point of departure should be used to determine the number of work hours for that day and whether the travel falls within normal work hours.

Examples

Example 1: An employee’s normal work schedule is from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The employee travels on business to a location that requires two hours of travel time. The employee leaves Friday at 8:30 a.m., works the remainder of Friday and Saturday morning, and returns on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

Compensable time
• The two hours of travel time on Friday and the two hours of travel time on Saturday are compensable time because it is during regular work hours of 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.
• The hours worked on Friday and Saturday are also compensable time.

Example 2: An employee’s normal work schedule is from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The employee travels on business (or to a conference) to a location that requires two hours of driving to the airport and a 5-hour flight. The employee leaves Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and arrives at their destination at 4:00 p.m. but doesn’t begin work until Monday at 8:30 a.m. The employee then works/conferences until 5:00 p.m. on Monday and from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. After the meeting ends at 5:00 p.m., the employee catches a cab to the airport, flies home and upon arrival at the airport drives two hours home. The employee arrives Wednesday morning at 1:00 a.m. and returns to work at the regularly scheduled time that day to work the remainder of the week.

Compensable time
• The two hours driving time on Saturday and two hours of driving time on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning is compensable time.
• The work hours on Monday and Tuesday are also compensable time.
• The 5-hour flight on Saturday is compensated, because it cuts across normal working hours, even though it is a non-workday.

Non-Compensable time
• The flight time on Tuesday is not compensated since it is outside the normal work schedule.
• Meal times and other time outside the employee’s normal work hours are not compensated.