Wage and Hour Division says pre-shift client scheduling calls can make a field engineer's drive to the first job paid work time
As of our last check on November 2, 2026, this is agency guidance, not a rule. It explains how the agency reads the law and does not create a legal requirement on its own.
In short
- What changed
- The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued an opinion letter on how the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) treats a field engineer's pre-shift pages, client scheduling calls and drive time in an employer-provided vehicle. It says receiving pages is unpaid, but scheduling calls are paid work. When those calls fill most of the hour before or during the drive, the drive to the first client site is paid too.
- Who's affected
- The letter answers one field service engineer's facts. It is most relevant to employers whose employees drive an employer-provided vehicle from home to client sites and must schedule appointments before or during that drive.
- What to do
- This letter creates no new legal requirement for employers. Employers with field staff who make required scheduling calls before or during their drive may want to review how that call time and the drive time that follows are recorded and paid.
What changed
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From the sourceOPINION, section A
the minimal time it takes to receive each page before your workday begins is not compensable hours worked because it is incidental to your commute in an employer-provided vehicle
WHD says the brief time spent receiving job pages before the workday begins is not paid time. It treats that time as incidental to commuting in an employer-provided vehicle under the Employee Commuting Flexibility Act (ECFA).
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From the sourceIntroduction
time spent calling clients to schedule appointments and scheduling other field service engineers is compensable hours worked as it is not incidental to your commute, but rather integral and indispensable to your principal work activities
WHD says time spent calling clients to schedule appointments, including scheduling other field service engineers, is paid work time. It treats these calls as integral and indispensable to the engineer's main work of installing and servicing equipment.
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From the sourceOpinion, section B
Under this set of facts, we conclude that your travel time to the first client location would be compensable.
Also: OPINION, section B
it constitutes compensable worktime because it both occurs during the workday and is not an ordinary commute.
In the first scenario, the engineer spends most of the hour before leaving home on required client calls. WHD says the drive to the first client site that follows is paid time, because it happens during the workday and is not an ordinary commute.
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From the sourceOpinion, section C
the beginning of your travel time (from 6:00 a.m. until at least 7:00 a.m.) is ordinary home-to-work travel and not compensable.
Also: Opinion, section C
Your workday commences when you begin calling clients to schedule their appointments, and the rest of your travel time from your first client call until you arrive at your first client location is compensable.
In the second scenario, the engineer makes the calls while driving. WHD says the workday starts with the first client call. Driving before that call is an unpaid ordinary commute, and the rest of the drive to the first client site is paid.
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From the sourceOpinion, section C
when you begin your commute before performing any work activities for the day, your employer’s practice of compensating pre-shift travel time only in excess of one hour is acceptable.
WHD says that when an employee starts commuting before doing any work, an employer practice of paying pre-shift travel time only beyond the first hour is generally acceptable.
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From the sourceGENERAL LEGAL PRINCIPLES, section B
As the Division now clarifies, an ordinary home-to-work or work-to-home commute that takes place during the workday constitutes a third exception to compensability during the continuous workday.
The letter says an ordinary home-to-work or work-to-home commute that happens during the workday is an exception to the rule that time during the workday is paid.
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From the sourceOpinion, section B
the employer and employee may be permitted to enter into a “reasonable agreement . . . which takes into consideration all of the pertinent facts” to ensure sufficient compensation for the hours worked.
Where at-home work time is hard to measure, WHD notes that an employer and employee may be able to enter a reasonable agreement on compensation under 29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 785.23.
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From the sourceClosing
This interpretation may be relied upon in accordance with section 10 of the Portal Act
The letter says it is an official interpretation that may be relied on under section 10 of the Portal-to-Portal Act.
Who is affected
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From the sourceBACKGROUND
you are employed as a field service engineer and are responsible for the installation and servicing of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems.
Also: BACKGROUND
The vehicle you drive is provided by your employer and is a sports utility vehicle customarily used for commuting.
The requester is a field service engineer who installs and services magnetic resonance imaging systems at client sites and drives an employer-provided vehicle.
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From the sourceNote following signature
This opinion is based exclusively on the facts and circumstances described in your request
The opinion rests only on the facts the requester described, and other facts could lead to a different conclusion.
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Our analysisOPINION, section A
Receiving assignments remotely is a minor consequence of driving an employer-provided vehicle to and from home.
Employers whose employees drive employer-provided vehicles from home to several client sites a day, and who must handle scheduling before or during the drive, are the most likely to find this reasoning relevant to their own practices.
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From the sourceOPINION, section B
many employees who travel from site to site during the workday are required to complete some administrative work at home beforehand or afterwards, but have a long window of time in which to do so.
Also: OPINION, section B
For such employees, the home-to-work and work-to-home drives remain ordinary commutes
WHD distinguishes employees who must do some administrative work at home but have a long window to do it. For them, the drives remain ordinary commutes.
What it means in practice
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Our analysisOPINION, section C
These activities are therefore compensable, and your workday begins when you perform such activities.
Under WHD's reading, required client scheduling calls made right before or during the drive can start the workday. That can turn drive time that an employer treats as unpaid commuting into hours worked, which can affect minimum wage and overtime totals.
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Our analysisOpinion, section C
when you begin your commute before performing any work activities for the day, your employer’s practice of compensating pre-shift travel time only in excess of one hour is acceptable.
A policy of not paying the first hour of pre-shift travel may not hold for days when the employee does required work, such as client calls, before or during that hour.
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Our analysisOPINION, section B
To the extent that your workday regularly differs from this scenario, your drive may instead be a non-compensable ordinary commute, depending on all the circumstances.
The outcome depends heavily on the facts. WHD says the drive may be an unpaid ordinary commute if the workday regularly differs from the scenario it reviewed.
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From the sourceFootnote 4
This analysis assumes that the remaining criteria for ECFA have been met, i.e., that your travel is within the normal commuting area for your employer’s establishment and that your use of the vehicle is pursuant to an agreement with your employer.
WHD's conclusion on pages assumes the vehicle travel is within the normal commuting area and that vehicle use is under an agreement with the employer.
What to do
AmendSignal analysis sorts these by whether this document changes them.
Already required
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From the sourceGENERAL LEGAL PRINCIPLES, section A
The FLSA generally requires covered employers to pay employees at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime of at least one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
Under the FLSA, covered employers must pay employees at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime of at least one and one-half times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. The letter describes this existing duty; it does not create it.
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From the sourceGENERAL LEGAL PRINCIPLES, section A
An employer must pay for all work that it knows or has reason to know is being performed, including work performed off-site (e.g., at the employee’s home).
Under the FLSA and its regulations, as the letter describes them, an employer must pay for all work it knows or has reason to know is being performed, including work done at the employee's home.
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From the sourceGENERAL LEGAL PRINCIPLES, section E
Any work which an employee is required to perform while traveling must, of course, be counted as hours worked
Under 29 CFR 785.41, which the letter quotes, any work an employee is required to perform while traveling must be counted as hours worked.
Worth considering
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Our suggestionOPINION, section A
Accordingly, your time spent calling clients to schedule appointments, including scheduling other engineers, is compensable hours worked.
Consider reviewing whether field employees who drive employer-provided vehicles make required client or scheduling calls before or during their drive, and whether that call time is recorded and paid.
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Our suggestionOpinion, section C
when you begin your commute before performing any work activities for the day, your employer’s practice of compensating pre-shift travel time only in excess of one hour is acceptable.
Consider checking any policy that leaves the first hour of pre-shift travel unpaid, so that it applies only on days when the employee does no work before or during that hour.
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Our suggestionOPINION, section B
many employees who travel from site to site during the workday are required to complete some administrative work at home beforehand or afterwards, but have a long window of time in which to do so.
Consider whether required at-home tasks must be done immediately before or after the drive, or can be done within a long window, since WHD treats these situations differently.
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Our suggestionOpinion, section B
the employer and employee may be permitted to enter into a “reasonable agreement . . . which takes into consideration all of the pertinent facts” to ensure sufficient compensation for the hours worked.
Where at-home work time varies a lot from day to day, consider whether a written reasonable agreement under 29 CFR 785.23 would help make sure the time is paid.
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Our suggestionFootnote 4
This analysis assumes that the remaining criteria for ECFA have been met, i.e., that your travel is within the normal commuting area for your employer’s establishment and that your use of the vehicle is pursuant to an agreement with your employer.
Consider confirming that employer vehicle programs are limited to the normal commuting area and covered by an agreement with employees, since the ECFA analysis in the letter assumes both.
Open questions
The source leaves these open. We'll update this record if a later document answers them.
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How much time on calls during the drive is enough to make the whole drive after the first call paid time?
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Does paying a fixed shift plus overtime for travel beyond an hour cover all hours worked in this situation?
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Is receiving pages still unpaid time if the vehicle is used outside the normal commuting area or without an agreement on its use?
Related changes
History
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FLSA2026-10: Whether time spent by an employee receiving pages, calling clients and other workers to schedule appointments, and driving from home to the first client appointment is worktime that an employer must record and pay for under the FLSA. Source (opens in a new tab)