Pac Bell didn’t need to pay technicians for the time they spent driving from home to the first appointment of the day to service customers’ telephone lines because the Home Dispatch Program under which Pac Bell allowed technicians to drive company vehicles home at night and then from there to the first appointment the next day was voluntary. If a technician didn’t want to participate, he could return the company vehicle each day and be compensated for all time from picking up the vehicle at the company parking facility to returning it to that facility at the end of the day. Under Morillion v. Royal Packing Co. (2000) 22 Cal.4th 575, an employer must pay workers for time spent on employer-provided transportation only when the employer requires the workers to use that transportation, not when it is optional. Mere transportation of tools to the job doesn’t qualify as being suffered or permitted to work.
California Court of Appeal, Third District (Duarte, J.); November 15, 2018; 29 Cal. App. 5th 131