Tips and Articles on HR Best Practices, HR Outsourcing, and HR Compliance
FLSA Travel Time: Employer Guide to Paid Commuting, Remote Work, and Special Assignments
FLSA travel time is far more complicated than most employers realize. The 2026 DOL opinion letters reshaped key rules for commuting, remote work, hybrid schedules, and special assignments — and small factual differences can completely change whether travel must be paid. Here’s what employers need to know now.
Can Employers Require Employees to Work Off the Clock? A Litigation-Informed Guide for HR and Leadership
Off‑the‑clock work is never optional under the FLSA. If a nonexempt employee performs work, the employer must pay for it — authorized or not. Most violations come from workload pressure and manager habits, not intentional misconduct, and they quickly snowball into overtime exposure and litigation risk. The fix is structural: tighten policies, train managers, and ensure employees report all hours worked. Unpaid time isn’t a savings; it’s a growing liability.
Paying Employees for Training: FLSA, Wage‑and‑Hour, and ADA Rules Employers Must Follow
Employers who rely on “credit hours” or off‑the‑clock training create classic FLSA exposure. Mandatory training, manager‑assigned modules, and any time spent troubleshooting or repeating LMS content must be paid based on actual time worked — not estimates. State laws are often even stricter, making unpaid training a fast path to wage‑and‑hour liability for multi‑state employers.