Guide to Hours Worked

Work Time

Generally, time spent for the benefit of the employer, with the employer’s knowledge, performing principal activities – duties or actions integral to the staff member’s job – is considered to be hours worked and, therefore compensable.

Commuting Time

General commuting – the time spent by staff members traveling to and from their work sites before and after work on normal workdays – DOES NOT COUNT as hours worked.

When travel time is integral to performing the staff member’s job, the time DOES COUNT as working time. An example of this would be traveling from the office to another location and back for a work- related meeting.

Prolonged travel as a driver to an out-of-town location DOES COUNT as hours worked.

Out-of-Town/Overnight Travel Time

Time spent traveling out-of-town during normal work hours (8 a.m. – 5 p.m.) on any day of the week DOES COUNT as hours worked, regardless of whether the staff member performs work or not. This is true even if the travel occurs on a staff member’s regular day off, such as Saturday or Sunday, as long as the hours spent traveling correspond to the staff member’s normal work hours on a work day. If the employee is driving, all drive time DOES COUNT as hours worked.

Travel as a passenger outside normal hours resulting in an overnight stay DOES NOT COUNT as hours worked if the staff member is a passenger on an airplane, train, boat, bus, or car, and where the staff member is free to relax, UNLESS the staff member performs work while a passenger.

If travel outside the staff member’s normal working hours is part of a one-day assignment, without an overnight stay, then the time spent traveling during that day, even as a passenger, DOES COUNT as hours worked.

Normal commuting trips while out of town, (e.g. hotel to work site and back), “down time” in the out- of-town city, as well as personal time such as sleep and meal time, DO NOT COUNT as hours worked. Business meals or working lunches, however, DO COUNT as hours worked.

Sleep Time

1. For staff members scheduled to work less than 24 hours at a time:
   Time permitted for sleeping is considered work time as long as the staff member is on duty and must work when required. Allowing staff members to sleep when they are not busy does not render the time to be non-paid sleep time.
2. For staff members who are working more than 24 hours at a time:
   A maximum of 8 hours of sleeping time and up to an additional 3 hours of meal time may be excluded from work time by agreement if:
   • there is truly an expressed or implied agreement excluding sleeping time; and
   • adequate sleeping facilities for an uninterrupted night’s sleep are provided; and
   • at least five hours of sleep is possible during the sleeping period; and
   • interruptions to perform duties are considered hours worked.

Drury’s established workweek, for the purposes of computing overtime is: 12:01 a.m. Sunday morning through Midnight Saturday night.