Driver Pay, Wait Time and Timekeeping Policy
Purpose and Scope
This policy explains how Your Business records and pays drivers' time, including waiting between trips, standby, split shifts and travel, so that every driver is paid correctly for all hours worked. It applies to all non-exempt drivers, driver-attendants and other staff who transport people.
Drivers are paid by the hour for all hours worked.
Waiting Time Between Trips
Your Business pays waiting time as follows:
- Time a driver spends waiting while on duty is paid work time. This includes waiting at a facility until the person transported is ready to leave an appointment, waiting for a will-call return when the driver must stay nearby, waiting to be assigned the next trip, waiting while the vehicle is serviced, and waiting at the start of a shift for the first pickup (29 CFR 785.15).
- A gap between trips is unpaid off-duty time only if, before it starts, the driver is completely relieved of duty, is told the exact time to report back, may leave the vehicle and the area, and the gap is long enough for the driver to use the time for personal purposes (29 CFR 785.16).
Gaps of less than 60 minutes are always paid. Gaps of 60 minutes or more are unpaid only when the scheduler has released the driver from duty with a fixed return time and the driver is free to leave.
Drivers who are released but then called back early are paid from the time of the call. The person who releases a driver records each release and return time in the scheduling system.
On-call standby
A driver on call at home or another place of the driver's choosing, who is free to use the time and only needs to be reachable, is not working while waiting and is paid from the time a trip is accepted (29 CFR 785.17). A driver who must stay at our premises or so close that the time cannot be used freely is paid for the standby time.
Travel, Meals and Other Work Time
Paid work time includes:
- Driving between trips and between the base, pickups and drop-offs during the workday (29 CFR 785.38).
- Pre-trip and post-trip vehicle inspections, fueling, cleaning and sanitizing the vehicle, and completing trip logs and inspection reports.
- Driving a company vehicle home or to the first pickup when the driver must first pick up the vehicle, equipment or paperwork at our base.
- Required meetings and training, including online training.
- Rest breaks of 20 minutes or less (29 CFR 785.18).
Meal periods of at least 30 minutes are unpaid only when the driver is completely relieved of duty, including keeping watch over a person being transported or the vehicle. A driver who must eat while waiting with a person being transported is paid for that time (29 CFR 785.19).