29 U.S.C. § 254 : US Code - Section 254: Relief from liability and punishment under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the Walsh-Healey Act, and the Bacon-Davis Act for failure to pay minimum wage or overtime compensation

Search 29 U.S.C. § 254 : US Code - Section 254: Relief from liability and punishment under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the Walsh-Healey Act, and the Bacon-Davis Act for failure to pay minimum wage or overtime compensation

(a) Activities not compensable
Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, no employer
shall be subject to any liability or punishment under the Fair
Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended [29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.],
the Walsh-Healey Act [41 U.S.C. 35 et seq.], or the Bacon-Davis
Act,(!1) on account of the failure of such employer to pay an
employee minimum wages, or to pay an employee overtime
compensation, for or on account of any of the following activities
of such employee engaged in on or after May 14, 1947 -
(1) 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, and
(2) activities which are preliminary to or postliminary to said
principal activity or activities,
which occur 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. For purposes of this subsection, the use of an
employer's vehicle for travel by an employee and activities
performed by an employee which are incidental to the use of such
vehicle for commuting shall not be considered part of the
employee's principal activities if the use of such vehicle for
travel is within the normal commuting area for the employer's
business or establishment and the use of the employer's vehicle is
subject to an agreement on the part of the employer and the
employee or representative of such employee.
(b) Compensability by contract or custom
Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section
which relieve an employer from liability and punishment with
respect to any activity, the employer shall not be so relieved if
such activity is compensable by either -
(1) an express provision of a written or nonwritten contract in
effect, at the time of such activity, between such employee, his
agent, or collective-bargaining representative and his employer;
or
(2) a custom or practice in effect, at the time of such
activity, at the establishment or other place where such employee
is employed, covering such activity, not inconsistent with a
written or nonwritten contract, in effect at the time of such
activity, between such employee, his agent, or collective-
bargaining representative and his employer.
(c) Restriction on activities compensable under contract or custom
For the purposes of subsection (b) of this section, an activity
shall be considered as compensable under such contract provision or
such custom or practice only when it is engaged in during the
portion of the day with respect to which it is so made compensable.
(d) Determination of time employed with respect to activities
In the application of the minimum wage and overtime compensation
provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended [29
U.S.C. 201 et seq.], of the Walsh-Healey Act [41 U.S.C. 35 et
seq.], or of the Bacon-Davis Act,(!1) in determining the time for
which an employer employs an employee with respect to walking,
riding, traveling, or other preliminary or postliminary activities
described in subsection (a) of this section, there shall be counted
all that time, but only that time, during which the employee
engages in any such activity which is compensable within the
meaning of subsections (b) and (c) of this section.