The Portal Act provides in section 4(a) that except as provided in
subsection (b) no employer shall be liable for the failure to pay the
minimum wage or overtime compensation for time spent in ``walking,
riding, or traveling to and from the actual place of performance of the
principal activity or activities which such employee is employed to
perform either prior to the time on any particular workday at which such
employee commences, or subsequent to the time on any particular workday
at which he ceases, such principal activity or activities.'' Subsection
(b) provides that the employer shall not be relieved from liability if
the activity is compensable by express contract or by custom or practice
not inconsistent with an express contract. Thus traveltime at the
commencement or cessation of the workday which was originally considered
as working time under the Fair Labor Standards Act (such as underground
travel in mines or walking from time clock to work-bench) need not be
counted as working time unless it is compensable by contract, custom or
practice. If compensable by express contract or by custom or practice
not inconsistent with an express contract, such traveltime must be
counted in computing hours worked. However, ordinary travel from home to
work (see Sec. 785.35) need not be counted as hours worked even if the
employer agrees to pay for it. (See Tennessee Coal, Iron & RR. Co. v.
Musecoda Local, 321 U.S. 590 (1946); Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery
Co., 328 U.S. 690 (1946); Walling v. Anaconda Copper Mining Co., 66 F.
Supp. 913 (D. Mont. (1946).)
