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6 | forwardHR • Sp r i n g 2021 T he arrival of COVID-19 in 2020 required many employers to consider an influx of requests from non-exempt employees asking to work part of a day from home to help accommodate personal schedules, such as child care needs, doctor appointments and other personal business. ese requests present several legal questions. One question comes up oen: is the travel time between a non-exempt employee's regular jobsite and home during the workday compensable when the employee takes time to conduct personal business on the commute, such as picking up their child from day care before finishing their shi at home? As a general rule, employers are not legally required to pay non-exempt employees for regular commuting time. However, if an employee is required to travel between different work locations during their workday, employers must pay an employee for that time under a principle known as the "continuous workday doctrine." Working from home can constitute a "work location" under this doctrine. e Department of Labor recently clarified in an opinion letter that employers are not required to compensate employees for travel time between an employee's home and regular jobsite if the employee is considered "off-duty" during the travel time. An employee is "off-duty" if there is sufficient time and freedom for the employee to perform personal tasks in between the employee's "on-duty" time. For example, an employee begins the day at the office but must pick up his cat from the veterinarian at 2 p.m. e employee gets permission to leave the office at 1:30 and work from home for the rest of the day. e employee leaves the office at 1:30, drives 30 minutes to pick up the cat, and then drives home. e employee resumes working from home at 2:30 until the end of the workday. In this scenario, the hour the employee spends traveling from the office to pick up his cat and drive home is not compensable. However, travel time between the regular job site and home can be compensable work time for non-exempt employees when the employees do not have sufficient time and freedom to perform personal errands or when the hybrid telework arrangement is long-term or permanent. Such arrangements require legal analysis that takes into account all the individual facts and circumstances surrounding the arrangement. As employers offer greater remote work flexibility, it is important for them to have a clear policy establishing the parameters for remote work, including guidelines addressing when and how oen employees can take advantage of this flexibility, and a clear policy requiring employees to record all time worked whether the employee is working onsite, remotely or both. Additionally, employers must have reliable time-keeping systems that easily and accurately record their employees' working time. Employers should ensure that by creating workplace flexibility for employees, they are not inadvertently creating more legal risk for themselves. ■ Brenna McLaughlin is an associate with Boardman Clark. She has a general practice and is a member of the firm's Labor & Employment group. LEGISLATIVE Keeping an eye on the clock 'Can I work from home after I pick my cat up from the vet?' By Brenna McLaughlin, Attorney, Boardman Clark

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