What are the laws for employee travel pay in Missouri?

As far as I know, you generally don’t get compensated for travel time. If your commute is 2 hrs each way, you’re on your own for that typically. I agree that it sucks, but I think that’s the way it is. Maybe someone else will know more?

In my work, we frequently make international travel. It’s not uncommon to fly from the USA to India on an 18-hour flight, spend a week or two in-country, then fly back the same way. Typically, we are paid for “a day” of travel, but we make this up (especially on the return flight) by taking a “recovery day” off, with pay. We generally charge this as paid time against the contract, and the Project Managers understand and approve without comment.

We’ve also done this on a “compensatory time off” (comp time) basis, but that’s more circuitous, since we have to list the time on a timesheet, get it approved as Comp Time, and then schedule a day off at a future time. The way I described in the top paragraph accomplishes the same ends without all of the rigamarole.

Talk to your boss about how you can manage some type of official or unofficial comp time. (No one wants to pay directly for travel time – if they can avoid it – because it can be such a wild card. For example, a disruption in your travel plans can have you staying stranded and on standby in an airport overnight, or stuck in a motel during a snowstorm while driving to a remote location.) If you’re a salaried employee, your straight time is already paid; you just need a way to account for it by putting it into an “acceptable” bucket.

It shouldn’t be a painful conversation.

Check with the company’s Human Resources department for the facts. If there isn’t one, check into this Missouri Labor internet site. If that doesn’t answer your questions, then contact them. Often, supervisors are not aware of what the state laws are when it comes to employment. By doing the research and finding out the truth from someone in the know, it will prepare you for a discussion with your supervisor.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

Don’t forget to check the federal guidelines too, especially if you were sent out of state.

@WestRiverrat True, as that would apply to claiming mileage reimbursement if driving your own car. Otherwise, the federal guidelines are very basic when it comes to travel reimbursement. If I recall correctly, the state and local laws take precedence if they are more stringent than federal, as long as they aren’t breaking any laws. The same applies to company-mandated policies.

Our company doesn’t follow state rules, it seems to make it up as they go along. An hourly guy gets paid for his travel time and the time he works on site based from the time he leaves the hotel to the time he returns.

Us salary guys get paid the same whether we work 1 hour or 24 hours. We do, however, get compensatory time based on the hourly rate. If we work 16 hours, we are supposed to get 8 hours “comp” time. According to the state, we are supposed to get overtime pay. However the only way that will happen is if the salary guys bring a class action suit against the company and that is not likely.