Several years ago, the We’ll tell you what the court said and offer some compliance guidelines.
California Supreme Court ruled that employees must be compensated for travel time
when their employer requires them to travel to a worksite on employer-provided
buses. A Disneyland employee recently tried to rely on this decision to win back
pay for time spent riding on a free Disney shuttle between an employee parking
lot and the
Worker Not Amused by
Parking Shuttle
Before a big expansion
project in 1998, Disneyland employees parked in a lot to the south of the
walk to the Harbor Pointe employee entrance, and clocked in.
Since the expansion,
several employee entrances. Parking is assigned based on an employee’s worksite
within
Ball, Simba, and Team Anaheim lots can still park, walk to the nearest entry,
clock in, and proceed to work. Employees who park at the Katella lot, which is
a mile from the old Harbor Pointe entrance, ride a free shuttle bus to that
entrance.
Bobby Overton was a
the expansion, Overton was assigned to the Katella lot and rode the shuttle to Harbor
Pointe. To clock in on time, Overton said he had to arrive at work
substantially earlier than he used to in order to give himself time to park,
wait for the shuttle, and ride it to the entrance.
Employee Seeks Pay for
Ride Time
Overton believed he was
entitled to compensation for this extra time, so he filed a class action
lawsuit on behalf of nonexempt
employees assigned to the Katella lot. He based his case on the state Supreme
Court ruling regarding travel time on employer buses. But now an appellate
court has found that decision doesn’t apply here and dismissed the lawsuit.1
Bus Rides Not Mandatory
The court explained that
in that earlier case, employees for an agricultural employer were required to meet
at specified assembly areas or parking lots and ride employer-provided buses to
the fields where the employees worked. Employees were prohibited from driving
on their own to the fields. Because the bus ride was mandatory, the high court
ruled, the employees were subject to their employer’s control during that period
of time, so the time counted as hours worked and had to be compensated.2
There was a key
difference in the
situation that was fatal to Overton’s suit: the employees weren’t required to
use the parking shuttle. Employees could choose to use alternative types of
transportation, such as carpooling or vanpooling, both of which would have
given them preferential parking in the closer Team lot. Employees could also walk
or bike to work, right up to the employee entrance. In fact, said the court,
transportation.
The HR Management & Compliance Report: How To Comply with California Wage & Hour Law, explains everything you need to know to stay in compliance with the state’s complex and ever-changing rules, laws, and regulations in this area. Coverage on bonuses, meal and rest breaks, overtime, alternative workweeks, final paychecks, and more.
Guidelines
Whether employees are
entitled to compensation for travel time on employer-provided transportation depends
on whether they’re subject to the employer’s control during that period. If
they are, the time will count as hours worked. As the court here made clear,
when employees are free to choose—rather than required—to ride their employer’s
buses to and from work, time on the bus isn’t hours worked. Therefore, if you
provide transportation for employees, be sure to clearly state in your policies
that using it is optional.
Note, however, that if
employer transportation to the worksite is mandatory, you will have to pay
employees for the actual travel time and time spent waiting for the transportation
to arrive after the designated time employees are required to be at the
assembly spot.
_
1 Overton v. Walt Disney
Co.,
Court of Appeal (2nd Dist.) No. B179854, 2006
2 Morillion v. Royal
Packing Co.,
Supreme Court No. S073725, 2000