A problem arises when an employee who regularly works at a fixed
location in one city is given a special 1-day work assignment in another
city. For example, an employee who works in Washington, DC, with regular
working hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. may be
given a special assignment in New York City, with instructions to leave
Washington at 8 a.m. He arrives in New York at 12 noon, ready for work.
The special assignment is completed at 3 p.m., and the employee arrives
back in Washington at 7 p.m. Such travel cannot be regarded as ordinary
home-to-work travel occasioned merely by the fact of employment. It was
performed for the employer's benefit and at his special request to meet
the needs of the particular and unusual assignment. It would thus
qualify as an integral part of the ``principal'' activity which the
employee was hired to perform on the workday in question; it is like
travel involved in an emergency call (described in Sec. 785.36), or like
travel that is all in the day's work (see Sec. 785.38). All the time
involved, however, need not be counted. Since, except for the special
assignment, the employee would have had to report to his regular work
site, the travel between his home and the railroad depot may be
deducted, it being in the ``home-to-work'' category. Also, of course,
the usual meal time would be deductible.
