Mass-Peculiarities: An Employers Guide to Wage & Hour Law in the Bay State 2022 Edition

© 2022 Seyfarth Shaw LLP Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2022 ed. | 23 meal time will be unpaid so long as the employer provides adequate sleeping arrangements and the employee can enjoy an uninterrupted night’s sleep. 92 If those requirements are not met, all sleep time is compensable. 93 5. Compensable Travel Time Massachusetts regulations generally conform to the federal regulations in defining the types of travel time that constitute compensable work time. 94 An employer may establish a different rate of pay for travel time. 95 The rate cannot be lower than the minimum wage and must be established prior to the time the travel occurs. 96 Employers are advised to notify each employee of the travel rate in writing and obtain a signed acknowledgment before any travel occurs. a. Commuting Time An employee’s regular commute to and from work is generally not considered work time, and thus it is not compensable under either Massachusetts or federal law. 97 Much of employee travel time other than an employee’s regular commute to and from work is compensable. The following are common examples of compensable travel time: • “If an employee who regularly works at a fixed location is required, for the convenience of the employer, to report to a location other than his or her regular work site,” the employer must compensate the employee for all travel time in excess of the employee’s normal commuting time and for associated travel expenses. 98 • If an employee is required to report to a specified location to take transportation, the employer must compensate the employee for all time starting at the time the employee 92 29 C.F.R. § 785.22; 454 C.M.R. § 27.04(3)(b). The agreement should be in writ ing and signed. 93 29 C.F.R. § 785.22; 454 C.M.R. § 27.04(3)(b). The Massachuset t s sleep t ime regulat ion further provides that “ [i]f an employee resides on an employer’s premises on a permanent basis or for extended periods of t ime, not all t ime spent on the premises is considered working t ime. The employer and the employee may make any reasonable writ ten agreement as to hours worked which takes into considerat ion all of the pert inent fact s.” 454 C.M.R. § 27.04(3)(c); DLSOpinion Let ter MW-2003-007 (Aug. 1, 2003). 94 29 C.F.R. §§ 785.35-785.41; 454 C.M.R. § 27.04(4). 95 DOL Wage & Hour Opinion Let ter FLSA1999 (Jan. 22, 1999); DLS Opinion Let ter MW-2002-019 (June 28, 2002). 96 DOL Wage & Hour Opinion Let ter FLSA1999 (Jan. 22, 1999); DLS Opinion Let ter MW-2002-019 (June 28, 2002). 97 29 C.F.R. §§ 785.35-785.41; 454 C.M.R. § 27.04(4)(a). This can include t ime spent commut ing to and from work between shift s. See DLS Opinion Let ter MW-2002-019 (June 28, 2002). Where an employee works at home and then drives to a job site, the t ravel t ime may be compensable, even if it resembles a normal commute. See Dooley v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. , 307 F. Supp. 2d 234, 241-49 (D. Mass. 2004). 98 454 C.M.R. § 27.04(4)(b). See also DLS Opinion Let ter MW-2001-012 (Oct . 9, 2001) (length of temporary reassignment is irrelevant ). Firefighters who at tended a twelve-week t raining program for the purpose of being able to perform their dut ies safely and effect ively did not need to be compensated for their t ravel t ime. Taggart v. Town of Wakefield , 78 Mass. App. Ct . 421, 428 (2010). The t raining occurred over a sufficient ly extended period that it became the employees’ regular work locat ion, and the t rainingwas primarily for the firefighters’ benefit , rather than the “convenience” of the town. Id.