The union contends that the collective bargaining agreement does not have language specifying pay for travel time in city vehicles. It also requires that all grievances be filed within fifteen working days of the time the union has or should have knowledge of the alleged violation. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, travel from home to the work place is normally not compensable. Such travel is compensable, however, if established by either an express provision of a written contract, or by a custom or practice. Compensable time under city policy is time worked on activities assigned by a supervisor.
Noncompensable time includes travel from home to work.
Because travel to and from the work site to a training site in a city vehicle is not excluded as noncompensable under city policy, the time should be considered compensable as an activity assigned by a supervisor. The city required the employees to attend the training. Prior to January of 1996, the city had never designated a training site as a work site. The city believed that by calling the training site the work site, it could avoid paying the overtime it has always paid before. It was an attempt to justify the change in past practice and fit within the statutory rule that travel to and from the employee s home to the work site is noncompensable.