[VA] Do employers have to pay full hourly wages for employee travel time between job sites?

I'm a residential/commercial cleaning business owner in Virginia. I need to know what the state/federal law is concerning reimbursing my employees for drive time in between jobs. I currently pay their regular pay (ranging from $20–25/hr) to drive between sites. Is it legal for me to pay them just minimum wage for these trips? They are using their own vehicles. There are only 3 or 4 of them that get both gas money for drive time AND travel time (for locations 45 min–1 hr 15 min away from our base location in Warsaw, VA). Thank you!

11

Not at this time.

Hi Benjamin! Understood.

Yes, I am. Prior to this month, I was paying all 11 employees both gas money at the end of the week AND drive time in between jobs (not going to jobs or leaving their last job—only between jobs). My payroll was off the charts.

So now, I am only paying drive time in between jobs (so driving from Job 1 to 2) for all of my cleaners—except for my main residential manager and lead technician (they both get weekly gas money AND drive time at their normal hourly rate).

The only exception is my cleaners who travel 45 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes to far-away locations (Deltaville and White Stone). There are 2–3 of them that clean at those two commercial locations. They get gas money AND drive time (if driving from another job).

Virginia State Law on Mileage Reimbursement

Virginia does not have a state law that requires private-sector employers to reimburse employees for mileage or vehicle use when employees use their personal vehicle for business purposes. There’s no mandatory state mileage reimbursement requirement for private employers like your cleaning business.

Federal Law (Fair Labor Standards Act — FLSA) on Travel Time and Compensation
Because your employees appear to be non-exempt (hourly) employees, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) governs whether travel time must be paid.

A. Travel Time vs. Commuting Time
Under federal standards:

• Normal commute time (home → first job site, last job site → home) is not compensable work time.
• Travel time between job sites during the workday is compensable — it must be counted as hours worked and paid at the applicable hourly rate.

This applies whether the employee drives themselves or is a passenger, so long as the travel is part of their job duties and during the regular workday.

You appear to be combining two separate issues:

Mileage reimbursement (expense reimbursement):

Virginia doesn’t require you to reimburse mileage. Common practice is to reimburse at the IRS standard mileage rate (e.g., $0.70/mile for 2025) so that employees aren’t bearing the cost of business travel. Mileage reimbursement is not pay for time worked. It is separate from wages.

Pay for time spent traveling:

Under the FLSA, travel between job sites during the workday is hours worked and must be paid. Paying only minimum wage for that travel time is only legal if your employees are exempt and you’ve otherwise agreed to that structure (rare for hourly workers), and they perform no compensable work duties while traveling. For non-exempt hourly employees, they must be paid for travel time at their regular rate of pay (or minimum wage if their regular is lower, which it isn’t in your case).

In your business, paying someone $7.25 or $12.41 for travel time while they are otherwise paid $20–$25 for job tasks would not conform with FLSA, because the travel time is part of the job duties and thus work time.

What about for FT employees? I have one of those—she’s my manager. Is she also considered non-exempt?

Okay, understood, thank you.

Yes, you answered my questions. Thank you for your help! Have a great day also!