DOL: Employees run errands on their own time, not yours.

• Position: Legal Briefs

Timekeeping for nonexempt remote employees can be difficult at best. Good news: In a recent opinion letter, the U.S. Department of Labor has said nonexempt employees who work from home and do errands during the day don't have to be paid for that errand time.

For example, say an employee worked at home in the morning, drove to a parent-teacher meeting from 1:00-2:00 p.m. and worked all afternoon. The DOL clarified that nonexempt workers don't need to be paid for the meeting time. And travel time is only counted as hours worked "when it's part of an employee's...