Entitlement to Compensation for Traveltime

A decision was requested concerning the entitlement of a shipyard employee to compensation for time he spent on a nonworkday, traveling to a temporary duty site. He began travel at the end of a Friday workday and arrived at his temporary duty site the following day. Six hours of his traveltime corresponded to his regular workday hours. The shipyard stated that he was nonexempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act and was not entitled to compensation for his traveltime under the Act since he had worked only 32 hours during the week prior to travel because one of the days of that week was Labor Day. As a nonexempt employee under the Act, the employee was entitled to overtime compensation under the Act or title 5 of the United States Code, whichever provided the greater benefit. The employee's traveltime during his corresponding work hours were hours of work under the Act. Under the Act he could have been considered to have worked a total of 38 hours, 4 workdays of 8 hours each and 6 hours of traveltime. Under title 5 of the United States Code, he could not be compensated for traveltime away from the official duty station unless the travel involved the performance of work while traveling, was incident to travel that involved the performance of work while traveling, was carried out under arguous conditions, or resulted from an event which could not be scheduled or controlled administratively. The employee's travel did not appear to fall within any of these categories. The employee could not receive his regular rate of pay for traveltime under the Act and the 40 hours he had been paid under title 5. Such compensation would be an improper combination of the benefits provided by the statutes. Since he has received compensation for 40 hours under title 5 and has worked 38 hours under the Act, he has received the greater of the benefits provided by the applicable laws.