U.S. DOL Issues Opinion Letters on Travel Time and Overtime 

Situation Report | January 11, 2021

On December 31, the U.S. Department of Labor announced two new opinion letters that address compliance issues related to two very important areas under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) — travel time and overtime.

The opinion letters issued are:

  • FLSA2020-19: Addressing whether certain travel time occurring on a partial telework day is compensable under the FLSA.
  • FLSA2020-20: Addressing whether certain overtime payments based on an expected number of hours worked may be credited towards the amount of overtime pay owed under the FLSA and whether such overtime payments are excludable from the regular rate.

Organizations can search for existing opinion letters by keyword, year, topic, and a variety of other filters on the Department’s website. You can also submit requests for opinion letters to WHD to obtain an opinion or determine whether existing guidance already addresses your questions.