Jesus thinks you should compensate us fairly!
March 15, 2013 10:05 AM Subscribe
My employer requires me to travel to a meeting 20 miles away once a week. They do not pay gas or mileage for this and as of today, are refusing to compensate for travel time as well. Is this legal?
I'll try to keep it short and concise.
I work for a religious non-profit in Missouri. We have a food pantry / other ministries in one town and another food pantry / ministries in a close-by smaller town. Only 4 employees work at the latter ministry, of which I am one.
We are required to attend mandatory prayer meetings once a week at a church in the town in which most of our employees work. At first, we were told the 4 employees that had to drive a distance could all carpool in the company vehicle so none would be out gas expense or mileage on their vehicles. After some time this policy was changed and we 4 employees have to transport ourselves to the meetings with no compensation for mileage, gas, etc.
Since these meetings began, the 4 employees who drive from farther away have been compensated for arriving early to work on meeting days. We typically are required to be here by 8:45 but on meeting days we must be here at least 15 minutes early to be at the meeting on time. Management now says that from now on, meeting day pay will not include that extra 15 minutes. We will only be compensated for normal hours, starting at the usual 8:45 and despite the fact that they are well aware we must all be here early.
Looking through Missouri labor laws, I'm finding that I'm not sure this is legal. Can an employer REQUIRE an employee to travel away from their home base and not compensate them for that travel time?
I'll try to keep it short and concise.
I work for a religious non-profit in Missouri. We have a food pantry / other ministries in one town and another food pantry / ministries in a close-by smaller town. Only 4 employees work at the latter ministry, of which I am one.
We are required to attend mandatory prayer meetings once a week at a church in the town in which most of our employees work. At first, we were told the 4 employees that had to drive a distance could all carpool in the company vehicle so none would be out gas expense or mileage on their vehicles. After some time this policy was changed and we 4 employees have to transport ourselves to the meetings with no compensation for mileage, gas, etc.
Since these meetings began, the 4 employees who drive from farther away have been compensated for arriving early to work on meeting days. We typically are required to be here by 8:45 but on meeting days we must be here at least 15 minutes early to be at the meeting on time. Management now says that from now on, meeting day pay will not include that extra 15 minutes. We will only be compensated for normal hours, starting at the usual 8:45 and despite the fact that they are well aware we must all be here early.
Looking through Missouri labor laws, I'm finding that I'm not sure this is legal. Can an employer REQUIRE an employee to travel away from their home base and not compensate them for that travel time?
this sounds to me like picking the wrong battle to fight even if technically you may be in the right. the only angle I would fight this on if any is appealing to compassion that the gas bill is hard for you to foot and could they help you out by giving you a ride or something.
I mean, you get paid for the hours at the mandatory prayer right? I'm assuming that the nature of your organization allows for compulsory prayer which would normally be wacky. Assuming that the nature of your organization necessarily defines you as someone who "should" be doing these prayers anyway in your free time, they probably feel like they're being generous already.
There are all sorts of little incongruencies in a job-place that are technically illegal, but fighting them will only make you look bad and dispensable on an attitude basis.
posted by cacao at 10:17 AM on March 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
I mean, you get paid for the hours at the mandatory prayer right? I'm assuming that the nature of your organization allows for compulsory prayer which would normally be wacky. Assuming that the nature of your organization necessarily defines you as someone who "should" be doing these prayers anyway in your free time, they probably feel like they're being generous already.
There are all sorts of little incongruencies in a job-place that are technically illegal, but fighting them will only make you look bad and dispensable on an attitude basis.
posted by cacao at 10:17 AM on March 15, 2013 [4 favorites]
According to this Dept of Labor document, you should be paid for travel time.
Not if it is travel from OP's home to the prayer meeting.
I do not think you are owed any mileage from the employer. You can deduce the mileage on the car at the rate per mile set forth here. Or, you can use the actual costs of operating the vehicle for those miles.
If the employer requires for your job that you be there at 8:30, that is when pay needs to begin, assuming that you are an hourly employee. If you are salaried, your pay will not change. If you want to raise a fuss over 15 minutes per week, be my guest. You will be shooting yourself in the foot.
I have done very little employment law, so I welcome correction on any of these point.
posted by Tanizaki at 10:21 AM on March 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
Not if it is travel from OP's home to the prayer meeting.
I do not think you are owed any mileage from the employer. You can deduce the mileage on the car at the rate per mile set forth here. Or, you can use the actual costs of operating the vehicle for those miles.
If the employer requires for your job that you be there at 8:30, that is when pay needs to begin, assuming that you are an hourly employee. If you are salaried, your pay will not change. If you want to raise a fuss over 15 minutes per week, be my guest. You will be shooting yourself in the foot.
I have done very little employment law, so I welcome correction on any of these point.
posted by Tanizaki at 10:21 AM on March 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
Not a lawyer (or any kind of authority figure), but if they are paying you for the driving time then you are considered on the clock and their insurance could be liable if you get into an accident during that time. I don't know if this is the reason for the change, but it is one angle they may be considering.
posted by Glinn at 10:38 AM on March 15, 2013
posted by Glinn at 10:38 AM on March 15, 2013
Employee's are traveling from their place of business to the prayer meeting site, not from home to work.
Traveling for business during business hours, from one business site to another business site, puts these employees on the company's clock, no?
posted by jbenben at 10:44 AM on March 15, 2013
Traveling for business during business hours, from one business site to another business site, puts these employees on the company's clock, no?
posted by jbenben at 10:44 AM on March 15, 2013
Response by poster: To clarify: I meet another employee AT WORK and together, we take the work vehicle to our meetings. I ride home from the meetings with a different employee and I compensate her for wear and tear on her vehicle and gas. My employer knows of and is fine with this arrangement. I am non-exempt and hourly.
It's unclear what "well aware" means here, and it would be good if this were clarified.
Well aware means that my employer knows we all live and work 20 minutes from our meeting site. They know that I must leave either my house or our building by 8:30 to be at the meeting by 9:00.
this sounds to me like picking the wrong battle to fight even if technically you may be in the right.
It very well may be which is why I haven't actually committed to fighting the battle. My question was not whether I should but whether it was legal or not for my employer to not compensate me for that time...
posted by youandiandaflame at 10:57 AM on March 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's unclear what "well aware" means here, and it would be good if this were clarified.
Well aware means that my employer knows we all live and work 20 minutes from our meeting site. They know that I must leave either my house or our building by 8:30 to be at the meeting by 9:00.
this sounds to me like picking the wrong battle to fight even if technically you may be in the right.
It very well may be which is why I haven't actually committed to fighting the battle. My question was not whether I should but whether it was legal or not for my employer to not compensate me for that time...
posted by youandiandaflame at 10:57 AM on March 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Wait, this is unclear.
You have, once a week, a meeting to go to at a different location. This appears to be first thing in the morning and you choose to carpool and meet at your office, but you could go there directly from home? Because in this case, I don't think you need to be paid for travel time or expenses to this meeting.
However, assuming this meeting ends in the morning and you are required to go from there to your normal office location, you should be paid for the travel time back to the office and for gas and mileage.
posted by jeather at 11:47 AM on March 15, 2013
You have, once a week, a meeting to go to at a different location. This appears to be first thing in the morning and you choose to carpool and meet at your office, but you could go there directly from home? Because in this case, I don't think you need to be paid for travel time or expenses to this meeting.
However, assuming this meeting ends in the morning and you are required to go from there to your normal office location, you should be paid for the travel time back to the office and for gas and mileage.
posted by jeather at 11:47 AM on March 15, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by shoesietart at 10:13 AM on March 15, 2013 [2 favorites]