[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR785.16]

[Page 648]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 785_HOURS WORKED--Table of Contents
 
                   Subpart C_Application of Principles
 
Sec. 785.16  Off duty.

    (a) General. Periods during which an employee is completely relieved 
from duty and which are long enough to enable him to use the time 
effectively for his own purposes are not hours worked. He is not 
completely relieved from duty and cannot use the time effectively for 
his own purposes unless he is definitely told in advance that he may 
leave the job and that he will not have to commence work until a 
definitely specified hour has arrived. Whether the time is long enough 
to enable him to use the time effectively for his own purposes depends 
upon all of the facts and circumstances of the case.
    (b) Truck drivers; specific examples. A truck driver who has to wait 
at or near the job site for goods to be loaded is working during the 
loading period. If the driver reaches his destination and while awaiting 
the return trip is required to take care of his employer's property, he 
is also working while waiting. In both cases the employee is engaged to 
wait. Waiting is an integral part of the job. On the other hand, for 
example, if the truck driver is sent from Washingtion, DC to New York 
City, leaving at 6 a.m. and arriving at 12 noon, and is completely and 
specifically relieved from all duty until 6 p.m. when he again goes on 
duty for the return trip the idle time is not working time. He is 
waiting to be engaged. (Skidmore v. Swift, 323 U.S. 134, 137 (1944); 
Walling v. Dunbar Transfer & Storage, 3 W.H. Cases 284; 7 Labor Cases 
para. 61,565 (W.D. Tenn. 1943); Gifford v. Chapman, 6 W.H. Cases 806; 12 
Labor Cases para. 63,661 (W.D. Okla., 1947); Thompson v. Daugherty, 40 
Supp. 279 (D. Md. 1941))