Legal Question in Business Law in Pennsylvania

I work for a construction company in Harrisburg PA. They provide a company truck for technicians like me, and my work is almost always at least 1.5 to 2 hours away. They recently decided to no longer pay for return travel at the end of the work day. Then they decided to not allow morning travel time to be considered as time toward overtime. There is now a separate line on our paychecks for "travel time" and the hours are considered separate from regular hours/overtime. As of yesterday, we were informed that we are to report to the office every morning at 7:30AM and our time sheets are to reflect a start time of 8:00AM. They feel that everyone stands around and talks for 30 Min's every morning. We stand around because it takes the office 30 Min's or more to give us our work assignments for the day. My questions are: Is it OK to not pay people to drive a company vehicle after leaving a job site? Is it OK to separate travel time from actual time "working"? Is it OK to require us to report for work 30 Min's early, every day, and not pay us for that 30 Min's? The 7:30AM start time has always been our start time. It just came down that we will not be paid until 8:00AM. Thank you and I look forward to reading the replies!


Asked on 11/29/11, 3:57 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Andrew Solomon Law Office of Andrew A. Solomon

You are entitled to be paid from the time you are supposed to arrive at work until the time you leave (absent any union provisions to the contrary). It seems that you might have a case under the PA Wage Collection Act. You should go to the Pa Dept. of Labor's web-site and you can get a form to fill out. Generally, after you file a complaint, the Department will notify the employer and try to remedy the situation. If the employer does not agree and is actually violating the law, the Dept. can take him to Court and you can be awarded damages including payment of attorneys fees. Of xourse, while your employer is prohibited by law from retaliating against you, he can certainly make your life miserable and and you might be jeopardizing your job. You should consult a PA lawyer that does employment work and determine what your best options are.

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Answered on 12/02/11, 4:22 pm


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