Okay.
This is a ‘what would you do’ thread. I’m not asking if the situation is legal.
Last week, I received a call from a staffing agency saying that they had a job for me working for a local firm.
I was advised that the job paid $19/hr and I could start Monday. The job is a three-week contract.
The job consists of arriving at the customer’s headquarters at 8 in the morning, then traveling in a company vehicle to branch locations of the customer’s business. At those sites, I service customer equipment, then hop back into the company van and am driven back to the corporate headquarters.
The rides can be anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 hours each way.
Today, on lunch, I received a phone call from my staffing agency recruiter advising me that I will not be paid for time spent in the company’s vehicle.
Rather, I will only be paid for time at the customer’s HQ and time at the customer’s branch offices.
This evening, I reviewed all paperwork provided to me by the staffing agency. There aren’t any disclaimers that travel time is unpaid, etc.
I would immediately stop working for that company. I would not go back to work until they agreed to pay for the time I am traveling in their vehicle. I also would make sure that they had insurance converge on the vehicle, so that I was covered in case of an accident. If they claimed I was in breach of contract, I would tell them to go fuck themselves.
Travel That is All in a Day’s Work: Time spent by an employee in travel as part of their principal activity, such as travel from job site to job site during the workday, is work time and must be counted as hours worked.
I would tell the staffing agency I won’t work for any companies that don’t comply with FLSA regulations.
This issue was a bone of contention between coal miners and management a long time ago. Management didn’t want to pay the miners for the time it took to shuttle them from the surface to the underground areas they were working. I would make it clear that I would be paid for my time or they could find another person for the job. If they don’t capitulate in your favor I would report them for labor violations.
Time to contact your state department of labor, as they are very probably breaking the law. They may be subject to a huge fine if the state in fact finds that they are doing so, and subject to paying back wages to everyone they denied pay to.
I can’t tell you how many jobs I’ve had people try to tell me that I had to be there 10 or 20 minutes early and get my stuff set up, do whatever, but that I wouldn’t be paid until the start time. Every single time I have informed them that this is against the law and employees have to be paid for that time regardless of how they feel about it. And if they want to argue the point, I’d be happy to arrange a discussion between them and the state about it.
I still bitch that my employer can require me to be at a corporate meeting at 8am on Monday morning and the venue is 6 hours away. The only obvious answer is to travel on MY Sunday. I’m salaried so I guess it wouldn’t matter anyway but what pisses me off is that they EXPECT it.
If you’re going through a staffing agency, the agency is your employer and they are responsible for paying your for your time, regardless what the client does. Client doesn’t want to pay for your travel time? Staffing agency better work that out for themselves because the agency still has to pay you for that time, and whatever agreement they made regarding billing the client has no effect on that.
I would have a calm conversation with your agency contact pointing out that they would be in violation of labor law if they didn’t pay you, and do they want to cancel this contract with the client, or pay up themselves anyway? If they do anything other than pay you for the time you’ve already spent on the job, inform them that you will no longer work this contract, and will be contacting the Department of Labor regarding your back pay. And find yourself a better staffing agency. It’s their job to know and comply with labor laws.
Pretty much this, The notion that they don’t want to pay your travel time is utter lunacy. It’s seriously cuckoo. It’s putting them (the emp agency) in severe legal peril.
Agreed. It’s not surprising that a company would be trying to get away with this, but a staffing agency? They’re a professional employer. That’s all they do, employ people. Of all businesses they should be absolutely compliant with all employment laws. This is a no-brainer…insist on being paid for travel time. If they refuse and you need this job, you have the option to keep working, and get written proof that they’re not paying you for travel time, and then sue them for the lost wages AND penalties. You can just get a lawyer to send them a demand letter and offer to settle pre-litigation to avoid the hassle of a lawsuit. This not legal advice, just some information about potential options.
I too read this as that your company wouldn’t pay for time travel. I was like, “Wow, so there are companies out here who pay for your time travel? What a perk!”
Wait hold on. What do you mean when you say staffing agency? If they are just looking for temp jobs for you then they are not liable for the travel.
I guess it comes down to this. You want to work there then work, if you don’t then pass. I guess you can stimulate the economy a bit by going the legal route and giving some lawer some money. I am not seeing the problem, a 20 min to an hour commute is not much and I live in a city with darn good traffic compared to most.
Since there was nothing saying it was unpaid, why would you assume it was paid? Most people don’t get paid for their commute why the hell should you?
(wait…20 minutes to three hours? How the gosh darn double hockey sticks does that happen? There is no way that is right.)
Most people don’t consider traveling in a company vehicle from one branch to another branch a commute. Traveling from one’s home to the workplace is a commute.