Massachusetts law requires employers to reimburse employees for work-related travel, other than for travel associated with an ordinary commute. It’s not always clear what is and what is not an ordinary commute. In fact, under some situations your drive from home to the office is not an ordinary commute. In those situations, your employer must pay you for the time spent driving to the office and reimburse you for the mileage. Travel during the workday (i.e., after the ordinary commute) must be done on the clock and paid by the hour. Also, employers must reimburse for mileage for during-the-workday travel. To read more about mileage reimbursement, click here. To read more about when employers have to pay you for the time spent traveling, click here.

So, it’s clear under Massachusetts law that in most situations your employer must compensate you for work-related travel. What has been somewhat less clear is what is the rate of reimbursement. On March 25, 2020, a Massachusetts federal court provided some guidance on this issue.

Massachusetts Court Holds IRS Rate reasonably approximates reimbursement rate

Michael Orth filed a class action against J&J Pizza d/b/a Domino’s Pizza for unreimbursed travel expenses. Domino’s asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that plaintiff was unable to itemize his travel expenses and, as a result, could not proceed with his case. The Court disagreed, noting that “nothing in the FLSA or regulations requires proof of actual expenses; in fact, the regulations suggest the opposite by their allowance for employers to pay employees a ‘reasonable estimate’ of the employee’s expenses.”

In response to that argument, Domino’s claimed that they are entitled to estimate vehicle expenses, that they do not have to rely on the IRS rate, and that the $1.00 per delivery fee paid to the drivers was reasonable. The Court quickly dispensed with this argument, noting that $1.00 per delivery amounted to only $0.13 per mile.

The Court concluded by holding that the IRS mileage rate is a suitable proxy for establishing damages in a case where an employer fails to reimburse for mileage. In doing so, the Court relied upon the Department of Labor’s Field Operations Handbook, as well as opinions from Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, California, and New York.

If you drive for work, your employer should be reimbursing you for mileage at the IRS rate. If you are not getting reimbursed at this rate, your employer is likely violating the Massachusetts Wage Act. Employers who do that are liable to their employers for triple damages, attorneys’ fees, interest, and costs. Click below to schedule your free consultation with Massachusetts employment attorney Benjamin Steffans.