The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced today that it has issued two new opinion letters addressing how the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) applies to the commuter travel of employees who spend part of their workday working at home. The two letters are:

• FLSA2026-9: Whether mid-day travel between an employee’s home and work office is worktime that an employer must record and pay for under the FLSA, where the employee performs work at both locations and the mid-day travel is offered as a voluntary alternative to unpaid commuter travel that would otherwise occur before or after the employee’s workday.
• FLSA2026-10: Whether time spent by an employee receiving pages, calling clients and other workers to schedule appointments, and driving from home to the first client appointment is worktime that an employer must record and pay for under the FLSA.

Opinion letters provide official written interpretations from the department’s enforcement agencies, including the Wage and Hour Division, that address real-world questions from individuals or organizations. The letters explain how the laws the division enforces, including the FLSA, apply to specific factual circumstances and that may also help the public understand their rights and responsibilities.

Last June, the division relaunched the opinion letter program. This program expands the department’s longstanding commitment to providing meaningful compliance assistance that helps workers, employers, and other stakeholders understand how federal labor laws apply in specific workplace situations.

The public is encouraged to visit the division’s opinion letter page to explore past guidance and to find information on how to submit a request for an opinion letter. The division will exercise discretion in determining whether and how it will respond to each request, and will focus primarily on attempting to address matters where the application of existing regulations or guidance is unclear or issues of broad-based concern.

Employers and workers can contact the division for compliance assistance at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE (487-9243).