Do California Caregivers Get Paid for Travel Time Between Clients?
You finish helping your first client at 11:00 a.m.
Your agency tells you to drive 35 minutes across town to your next client.
You arrive at 11:35 a.m. and begin your second shift.
But when your paycheck arrives, you were paid for the time inside each client's home—and nothing for the 35 minutes you spent driving between them.
That might not be correct.
For many California caregivers, the workday does not necessarily stop simply because you walked out of one client's front door.
If your employer requires you to travel as part of your job, some of that travel time may count as hours worked.
And if you use your own car for required work-related driving, there may be a second issue:
Your employer may also owe you reimbursement for the expense of using your vehicle.
These are two separate rights.
You may potentially be entitled to:
1. Wages for your travel time; and
2. Reimbursement for your vehicle expenses.
For caregivers who drive between multiple clients every day, those unpaid minutes and miles can add up to a significant amount of money.
The Most Important Question: Is This My Commute or Am I Traveling for Work?
California law generally distinguishes between an employee's ordinary commute and travel performed as part of the employee's job.
Your normal trip:
Home → First Work Location
is usually treated differently from:
Client #1 → Client #2
or:
Client's Home → Doctor → Pharmacy → Client's Home
California courts have explained that an ordinary commute employees make on their own generally is not compensable. But travel can become compensable when the employee is sufficiently under the employer's control or is traveling as part of the work being performed.
For caregivers, that distinction can be extremely important.
Example: Two Clients in One Day
Consider this schedule:
8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Care for Client A
11:00 a.m. – 11:40 a.m.
Drive to Client B
11:40 a.m. – 4:40 p.m.
Care for Client B
An agency might pay the caregiver:
3 hours for Client A
5 hours for Client B
Total paid time:
8 hours
But the caregiver's work-related day may actually include the 40 minutes spent traveling between the agency's two assignments.
Potential hours worked:
8 hours, 40 minutes
That difference matters.
And it matters even more when the caregiver is already working long days or long weeks.
California's Definition of “Hours Worked”
California Wage Order 15 covers many household occupations, including caregivers and other workers providing services in private households.
It defines “hours worked” as time during which an employee is subject to the employer's control and includes time the employee is suffered or permitted to work.
California courts have repeatedly emphasized the importance of the employer's control over the employee.
For example, in Morillion v. Royal Packing Co., the California Supreme Court held that workers had to be paid for compulsory travel on employer-provided buses because the employer controlled when, where, and how the employees traveled.
The Court also made an important distinction:
An ordinary commute from home to work generally is not paid simply because the employee has to travel to get to work.
So the analysis is not simply:
“Were you driving?”
The better question is:
“Why were you driving, and what did your employer require you to do?”
Travel From Home to Your First Client
Let's start with the most common situation.
You leave your house in the morning and drive directly to the home of your first client.
In many circumstances, that trip is treated as an ordinary commute and is not paid work time.
For example:
Home → Client A
may be comparable to another employee driving:
Home → Office
The fact that your workplace happens to be someone's home does not automatically make the commute compensable.
But unusual circumstances can change the analysis.
For example, questions may arise if your employer requires you to:
report to the agency office first;
pick up supplies before going to the client;
transport another employee;
pick up equipment;
perform another work assignment before arriving;
use a particular employer-controlled transportation arrangement; or
report to a designated location before traveling to the client's home.
California law looks carefully at the degree of employer control involved.
Travel From One Client to Another
This is where many caregivers should pay close attention.
Suppose an agency employs you and schedules you with three clients during the same day.
Your schedule is:
Client A → Client B → Client C
Driving between those assignments is very different from your morning commute from home.
You are not traveling to begin your personal workday.
You have already started working.
You are traveling because your employer has assigned you to another location.
California regulations dealing with labor contractors expressly recognize compensable travel time between client employer worksites and require qualifying contractors to record that time.
Although the precise legal framework depends on who employs you and your work arrangement, this illustrates an important California principle:
Work-related travel between assigned locations can be compensable time.
If your caregiving agency sends you from one client to another and simply stops the payroll clock while you drive, those records deserve closer examination.
“My Agency Calls It a Gap Between Clients”
The name does not necessarily decide whether the time is compensable.
Imagine:
Client A ends at 10:00 a.m.
Client B begins at 10:30 a.m.
Client B lives 25 minutes away.
The agency calls the 30 minutes between assignments a:
gap;
break;
travel window;
transition period;
unpaid drive; or
personal time.
But you have only five minutes after completing the drive.
You cannot realistically go home.
You cannot meaningfully use the time for yourself.
The schedule exists because your employer assigned you to two different clients.
Calling it a “gap” does not necessarily turn work-related travel into personal time.
The facts matter more than the label.
What If I Have a Long Break Between Clients?
Now change the example.
Client A ends at 10:00 a.m.
Client B does not begin until 2:00 p.m.
You are free to go wherever you want during those four hours.
You decide to drive home, eat lunch, run errands, and then drive to Client B.
That situation is different.
Not every hour between two shifts automatically becomes paid travel time.
The analysis may depend on factors such as:
how long the break is;
whether you are free to use the time for yourself;
whether the employer directs where you must go;
whether the travel itself is required by the employer;
whether you are performing duties during the interval; and
how much control the employer exercises over the time.
There is an important difference between:
“Drive directly to your next client.”
and:
“You're off for four hours. Your next shift starts at 2:00.”
What If I Drive the Client to a Doctor's Appointment?
This is much clearer.
Suppose your client needs to go to a doctor's appointment.
You:
help the client into your car;
drive 25 minutes to the doctor's office;
wait with the client;
drive the client to the pharmacy;
pick up medication; and
drive the client home.
That is not your ordinary commute.
You are performing your caregiving job.
California's home-care statutes specifically recognize transportation and shopping among services that home care aides may provide.
The time spent performing these duties may therefore be compensable work time.
That can include more than the minutes when your car is actually moving.
Depending on the circumstances, it may include time spent:
helping the client into and out of the vehicle;
driving;
waiting at the appointment;
assisting the client;
going to the pharmacy;
shopping;
loading supplies;
returning to the client's home; and
completing other required duties.
What If My Employer Sends Me to the Grocery Store?
The same basic principle applies.
Suppose you are working at your client's home and the family tells you:
“Please go buy groceries for Mom.”
You drive 10 minutes to the store.
You spend 25 minutes shopping.
You wait 10 minutes in line.
You drive 10 minutes back.
That is approximately:
55 minutes performing an assigned task.
Your employer generally cannot transform that hour into unpaid time merely because some of the work happened inside your car or inside a grocery store rather than inside the client's home.
What About Picking Up Prescriptions?
Prescription pickups, medical supplies, groceries, meals, household supplies, and similar errands can raise the same issue.
If the errand is something you are doing for your employer or client as part of your job, ask:
Was I free to use this time entirely for myself—or was I completing an assignment?
If you were completing an assignment, the time may be work time.
Travel Time Can Create Overtime
This is one of the most important reasons caregivers should track their driving.
Imagine you are paid for:
44 hours of caregiving
during one workweek.
But you also spent:
4 hours driving between agency clients
during that same week.
If those four hours are compensable, your actual workweek could be:
48 hours—not 44.
That can change the overtime calculation.
California domestic work employees who qualify as personal attendants are generally entitled to time-and-a-half for hours worked over 9 hours in a workday or 45 hours in a workweek.
Different overtime rules may apply to caregivers who do not qualify as personal attendants.
That means unpaid travel can produce two potential problems:
Unpaid regular wages + unpaid overtime.
A caregiver should therefore never assume that 15 or 30 minutes between clients is too small to matter.
Over the course of months or years, it can matter a great deal.
Example: How Quickly Unpaid Travel Adds Up
Suppose you drive between clients twice per day:
30 minutes between Client A and Client B
and
30 minutes between Client B and Client C.
That's:
1 unpaid hour per day
If you do that five days per week:
5 hours per week
Over 50 working weeks:
250 hours per year
And if some of those hours should have been paid at an overtime rate, the potential difference becomes even larger.
Now imagine that happened for several years.
What looked like “just drive time” may represent hundreds of hours of unpaid work.
Getting Paid for Travel Time Is Different From Mileage Reimbursement
Caregivers frequently confuse these two issues.
They are not the same thing.
If you drive your own car for work, you may potentially have a claim for:
1. Your Time
You may need to be paid wages for compensable travel.
2. Your Vehicle Expense
Your employer may also need to reimburse necessary costs associated with using your vehicle for work.
California Labor Code section 2802 generally requires an employer to reimburse an employee for necessary expenditures or losses incurred as a direct consequence of performing the employee's duties.
California law now also expressly states that section 2802 applies to an employee-owned personal vehicle used in performing the employee's duties.
So an employer cannot necessarily say:
“We paid you for the hour you drove, so we don't owe anything for your car.”
Those are different issues.
Does My Employer Have to Pay Mileage?
When an employee is required to use their personal vehicle for work, California's expense-reimbursement law can require reimbursement of the necessary vehicle expense.
The California Supreme Court has recognized several methods employers may use to reimburse automobile expenses, including reasonable mileage reimbursement, reimbursement of actual expenses, and certain properly calculated lump-sum methods.
The IRS mileage rate is commonly used as a benchmark.
As of July 1, 2026, the IRS business mileage rate is 76 cents per mile. It was 72.5 cents per mile from January 1 through June 30, 2026.
But there is an important distinction:
California Labor Code section 2802 does not simply say that every employer must pay exactly the IRS mileage rate.
The fundamental requirement is reimbursement of necessary business expenses. The California Supreme Court has explained that the IRS mileage rate is one accepted method of approximating automobile expenses, while other reimbursement methods can potentially satisfy the law if they actually cover the employee's necessary expenses.
“They Only Give Me Money for Gas”
Gas is not necessarily the only cost associated with using your personal vehicle for work.
Vehicle use can involve:
gasoline;
maintenance;
oil changes;
tires;
repairs;
depreciation;
insurance; and
other operating costs.
The California Supreme Court has recognized that automobile expense reimbursement involves more than simply the gasoline consumed during the trip.
So if an employer says:
“Here's $5 for gas. We're even.”
that does not automatically establish that the employer has fully satisfied its reimbursement obligation.
Can the Family Tell Me to Use My Own Car?
Imagine you are hired directly by a family.
They routinely expect you to:
take Mom to physical therapy;
pick up prescriptions;
buy groceries;
drive to medical appointments; and
take her to lunch.
You use your personal vehicle.
Even though you work for a private household rather than a large agency, it is worth examining whether these expenses are a necessary consequence of your employment.
California's reimbursement statute applies to employers generally and requires reimbursement of necessary expenditures incurred in carrying out job duties.
The exact application can depend on the employment relationship and circumstances, so direct-hire caregivers should have their particular situation reviewed rather than assuming agency rules and household-employment rules are identical.
What If I Work for Two Different Families?
This can be different from working for one agency that assigns you to two clients.
Suppose:
Family A independently hires you from 8:00 to 11:00.
Then:
Family B independently hires you from 1:00 to 5:00.
If those are genuinely separate employers and separate jobs, the trip from Family A's home to Family B's home is not necessarily compensable by either family merely because both jobs involve caregiving.
Compare that with:
ABC Home Care Agency employs you.
ABC assigns:
Client A from 8:00 to 11:00
and:
Client B from 11:30 to 4:30.
Now the same employer is directing your work at multiple client locations.
That can present a very different travel-time analysis.
Who actually employs you matters.
What If the Agency Tells Me Not to Record Travel Time?
That should get your attention.
Common statements caregivers report include:
“We don't pay drive time.”
“Only clock in when you're inside the client's house.”
“Travel isn't caregiving.”
“The client only pays us for the scheduled shift.”
“You can claim mileage but not travel time.”
“You aren't working while you're driving.”
“Clock out before leaving one client and clock back in at the next.”
None of those statements, by itself, determines what California law requires.
The fact that the agency's billing arrangement with the client does not include travel time does not necessarily decide whether the agency owes its employee wages.
What the client pays the agency and what the agency legally owes the caregiver are two different questions.
Your App May Be Hiding the Problem
Many home-care agencies use electronic scheduling systems.
A caregiver's day might show:
8:00–11:00 — Client A
11:30–2:30 — Client B
3:00–6:00 — Client C
Payroll may automatically calculate:
9 hours worked.
But that screen may hide:
11:00–11:30 — required travel
and:
2:30–3:00 — required travel
The caregiver may actually have spent:
10 hours performing work-related activity.
If the software only records time spent inside a client's home, do not assume the software is necessarily calculating every legally compensable hour.
Keep Your Own Travel Records
If you regularly drive between clients, start documenting the trips.
A simple log can be extremely useful.
Record:
Date
Client A end time
Time you left
Client B location
Arrival time
Miles driven
Reason for trip
Whether the employer directed the travel
Any errands performed along the way
For example:
August 18 — Left Client A at 10:05 a.m. — Arrived Client B at 10:42 a.m. — 19 miles — agency scheduled both clients
Also save:
agency schedules;
screenshots from scheduling apps;
texts from dispatchers or coordinators;
Google Maps or other navigation history you already lawfully maintain;
mileage logs;
gas and parking receipts;
appointment schedules;
pharmacy receipts;
grocery receipts;
payroll records; and
pay statements.
Patterns become easier to identify when you compare your actual day with your employer's payroll records.
Don't Forget Parking and Tolls
Work-related driving expenses are not limited to mileage.
Suppose you are instructed to take your client to a medical center and have to pay:
$18 for parking.
Or your employer sends you across a toll road to reach another assignment.
Those expenses may also deserve review under California's requirement that employers reimburse necessary expenditures incurred in performing work duties.
Keep the receipts.
A Simple Test for Caregivers
When trying to determine whether a trip may be work-related, ask yourself:
Did my normal workday already begin?
Driving after you have already completed one assignment may look different from your commute from home.
Did my employer tell me where to go?
Travel directed by the employer is more likely to raise compensation issues.
Was I traveling to perform another work assignment?
Driving to another client, pharmacy, grocery store, doctor's office, or other required destination may be part of the job.
Could I freely use the time for myself?
Employer control is an important part of California's definition of hours worked.
Was I using my personal car for the employer's business?
If so, vehicle reimbursement may be a separate issue from wages.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do California caregivers have to be paid for driving between clients?
Potentially, yes. When the same employer or agency requires a caregiver to travel from one client assignment to another during the workday, that travel may constitute compensable work time depending on the circumstances.
Does my agency have to pay me for driving from home to my first client?
Usually, an ordinary commute from home to the first work location is treated differently from travel during the workday and generally is not compensable. Different facts may produce a different result if the employer exercises substantial control over the trip or requires other work before arriving.
What about driving home after my last client?
An ordinary commute home after completing the workday is also generally treated differently from work-related travel between assignments.
Should I be paid while transporting my client?
If transporting the client is part of your job duties, the time can be compensable work time.
Should I be paid while waiting at the doctor's office with my client?
If you are required to remain with or assist the client as part of your job, that time may be compensable.
What if I stop at the grocery store for my client?
Time spent performing an employer-directed errand may count as work time. If you use your own vehicle, expense reimbursement may also be an issue.
Can I get mileage and hourly pay for the same trip?
Potentially, yes. Wages compensate you for your time and labor. Mileage or vehicle reimbursement addresses the expense of using your personal car. They serve different purposes.
What is the California caregiver mileage rate in 2026?
California's general employee-expense statute does not establish a single mandatory cents-per-mile rate for every caregiver. The IRS business mileage rate, which is commonly used as a reimbursement benchmark, is 76 cents per mile for business travel occurring July 1 through December 31, 2026.
What if my employer has never paid travel time?
Do not assume the money is automatically lost. Depending on the circumstances and the claims involved, it may be possible to seek compensation for unpaid wages from prior pay periods. Different claims can have different filing deadlines, so it is wise to investigate promptly.
What if I never kept a mileage log?
Other evidence may help reconstruct your travel, including client schedules, text messages, appointment calendars, navigation history, receipts, agency records, and testimony about your normal routes.
Five Minutes Here. Thirty Minutes There. Hundreds of Hours Over Time.
Caregivers often focus on the hours spent physically caring for the client.
Employers may do the same.
But California wage law may look at the entire workday.
If your job requires you to travel from one assignment to another, transport your client, pick up prescriptions, go grocery shopping, or perform other tasks away from the client's home, that time should not automatically disappear simply because you were driving.
And if you use your own car to perform those duties, wages may not be the only issue.
You may also be entitled to reimbursement for your work-related vehicle expenses.
Are You Driving Between Caregiving Clients Without Getting Paid?
If you are a California caregiver and your employer or home-care agency does not pay you for travel between clients, take a closer look at your records.
Write down:
How many clients you visit each day.
How long you spend driving between them.
How many miles you drive.
Whether you run errands or transport clients.
Whether those additional hours push you into overtime.
A few unpaid trips may look insignificant.
A repeated pattern over months or years may be something very different.
CaregiverOvertime.com can help you review your hours, travel records, pay statements, schedules, and other evidence to determine whether you may have unpaid wage or expense-reimbursement claims.
If your employer only pays you while you are inside the client's home, contact us to find out whether the rest of your workday should have been paid too.
This article provides general information about California wage-and-hour law and is not legal advice. Whether particular travel time or expenses are compensable depends on the facts, including the caregiver's duties, employer, schedule, degree of employer control, and employment arrangement.