{"id":269859,"date":"2025-03-19T09:16:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T09:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aihr.com\/?post_type=hr-glossary&p=269859"},"modified":"2025-03-19T09:16:13","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T09:16:13","slug":"compensable-time","status":"publish","type":"hr-glossary","link":"https:\/\/www.aihr.com\/hr-glossary\/compensable-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Compensable Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is compensable time?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The term \u2018compensable time\u2019 refers to the hours an employee must be paid for under the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes any time an employee must be present at their job or work location, even if they aren’t actively doing tasks (e.g., an emergency responder or a remote tech support agent who is on call).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it does not include personal time when employees are completely free from work duties and are not under their employer\u2019s control. This is called non-compensable time and typically includes regular commuting to and from the workplace, preliminary activities (such as walking from the parking lot to the factory floor before work), and post-work activities (such as changing out of a work uniform into personal clothing after a shift).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which employees are eligible for compensable time?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The FLSA mandates that non-exempt workers are eligible for compensable time, as employers must pay them for all time spent on work-related tasks. This can include certain waiting times, work-related travel, and time spent on-call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non-exempt workers<\/a> are entitled to minimum wage and must be paid for every hour they work, including overtime pay<\/a> (pay for hours worked beyond 40 hours a week). These employees are often paid on an hourly basis and work in fields such as retail or F&B.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, exempt or salaried employees<\/a> are typically professionals, executives, or administrators who receive fixed salaries regardless of how many hours they actually work. As such, they are not covered under the rules for compensable time and are not eligible for overtime pay.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Are all work-related activities compensable? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While non-exempt employees must be paid for time spent on duties or when they\u2019re required to be at the workplace, certain activities do not count as part of compensable time. Here are some common activities included in and excluded from compensable time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Activities included in compensable time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n