Is travel time to office for a meeting part of paid time?
Question: If an employee who normally works remotely has to come to the office for a meeting, does the travel time to the office count as work time when it comes to compensation?
Answer: There seems to be a consensus that the answer is “yes.” Though not directly addressed in labour standards legislation, this consensus is based on an interpretation of employment standards “deemed work” provisions. In other words, having to come to the office for a meeting when one normally works remotely is the type of activity that would be deemed “work” by most employment standards regimes and, therefore, compensable.
Travel time, which is any time spent travelling once an employee reports for work, is of course distinguished from “commute” time, which is an employee’s own time spent getting to work. There is no statutory requirement in Canada to compensate employees for time spent commuting to and from work.
Ontario, for example, is one province where travel time clearly counts as work time under employment standards legislation. The Ontario Ministry of Labour website (http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/tools/hours/what_counts.php) provides:
“If the employee has a usual workplace but is required to travel to another location to perform work, the time travelling to and from that other location is counted as work time.”
The above quote is an interpretation of s. 6(1)(a)(i) of Ontario Regulation 285/01, which says that “work shall be deemed to be performed by an employee for the employer where work is permitted or suffered to be done by the employer.” The general principle embodied in this regulation is that
employees are “at work” when their employer exercises control and direction over them. This is the same principle under which an employee who is required to travel between job sites, or from the employer’s base to the worksite, is compensated for travel time, as is the case in British Columbia and Alberta.
The answer to the above question in other jurisdictions is less certain. In Nova Scotia, for example, there is no specific indication as to whether travel time counts as on the clock. In the Northwest Territories, the Labour Standards Board refused to consider an employee’s claim for travel time (Northern Lights Drywall Ltd. v. Gabrielson). The board reasoned that “the Labour Standards Act does not address travel time and living allowances.”
As law and interpretations differ among provinces, employers should consult counsel or the authorities in their jurisdiction, paying attention to the specific circumstances of employment and how employment standards legislation applies to those circumstances.
For more information see:
• Mulvihill v. Ottawa (City), 2008 CarswellOnt 1511 (Ont. C.A.).
• Deyonge v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., 2003 CarswellOnt 350 (Ont. S.C.J.)
• Potter v. New Brunswick (Legal Aid Services Commission), 2015 CarswellNB 87 (S.C.C.).
