is it page 2 yet?
LTTechie says that since he doesn't charge for travel to scheduled service his employees do not get paid for that time.
I would like to STRONGLY suggest that he reconsider this. I think that soon enough someone will complain to the wage and hour division of the US department of labor, (and it has been my experience that this is one areas that the Govco has not cut back on, and seems to have plenty of ability to get companies to "do the right thing" really quick) and his expense in just going back and figuring out how much he owes the State and Federal government in back taxes and penalty and his employees in wages and interest will be enough to make him regretful of the little bit of extra cash he had pocketed.
Failing to pay taxes on wages he -should_ but did not pay can be a headache no one really wants. the Govco really looks down on folks that avoid paying their taxes by avoiding paying their employees.
As far as I can tell (and I ain't no lawyer) the rules in the US and under "common law" for hourly paid workers have NOTHING to do with who is being paid, but it does cover at whose -convenience- the time is dedicated towards. If the tech is doing what he wants, he should not get paid. but if he is doing what his employer tells him he must be doing (driving to a scheduled maintenance), then he has the right to be paid for his time.
I think you might find the "required" to drive the company vehicle is also where there is a difference between salesman's and Joe_d's scenarios. If the company -requires- it, they should pay for it. If it is given as a "perk" and there is the option (not _required_) to leave the truck at the shop and drive their own vehicle home, then it is at the employee's convenience, and not the company's, and then there is no requirement to pay.
As far as I can tell, the "whose convenience" test will work in all hourly wage scenarios as far as deciding who should pay for the time.
If you are doing a set price PM but have to wait for 30 minutes for the truck, do you make who ever made you wait to pay, or do you think you can take that out of the techs pocket, and not pay him for the time he had to wait, as your price for the PM is based on a set time limit allowed the tech to complete the work?