Travel time between clients: is it paid?

By Mathieu Ouellet · Published October 31, 2026 · 8 min read

A house cleaner does four homes a day and spends 1 hour 20 minutes behind the wheel between clients. Are those 80 minutes working time? When the employer organizes the route, Quebec's Act respecting labour standards says yes. Here is where the line falls with the home-to-work commute, and how to calculate what you are owed.

What the law says: required travel is work

The rule is in section 57 of the Act respecting labour standards. It lists four situations in which an employee is deemed to be at work, even when nothing is being "produced": while at the employer's disposal at the workplace waiting for work, during breaks granted by the employer, when travel is required by the employer, and during any training or trial period the employer requires. The CNESST puts it simply: this time is time worked, and it must be paid.

The reasoning is straightforward: when your employer decides the order of the clients and the arrival time, your time belongs to the employer, whether you are in a bathroom or behind the wheel.

In practice, travel required by the employer:

is paid at least at the minimum wage, which has been $16.60 an hour since May 1, 2026; the exact rate depends on your contract or collective agreement;
counts toward the 40-hour standard work week, and therefore toward overtime;
must show up in your paid hours, just like the work done at the client's place.

One important point: these rules protect employees. A self-employed worker who bills their own clients is not covered by the Act respecting labour standards. If you are not sure of your status, the line is explained in Employee or self-employed? The criteria that matter in Quebec.

The commute from home to work: the general rule and the grey zones

The Act does not define "required travel". Case law has drawn the line. According to a summary published by Quebec's Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés (Carrefour RH, October 2025), the majority of decisions hold that the travel covered by sections 57 and 85.2 does not include the trip between home and the workplace. That commute is therefore normally neither paid nor reimbursed: it is the cost of getting to work, as in any office job.

In mobile trades, situations are rarely that clear-cut. Here are the cases you will run into most often:

You stop at the garage or warehouse first to pick up the truck, the trailer or the equipment. The trip from home to the garage is a commute. From the garage on, you are at work: the drive to the first client is required by the employer.
You leave home and go straight to a client far from your usual workplace. This is the real grey zone. Some decisions have granted compensation for the whole trip, but they mostly dealt with collective agreements or company policies. For your specific case, the CNESST is the body to consult.
You wait between two clients. If you remain at the employer's disposal at the workplace, that time is deemed work. If you have a two-hour gap during which you do whatever you want, the situation is different; it depends on the instructions you were given.

The law sets a minimum: an employer can pay for the trip to a distant job site or offer a distance premium. Reread your contract, your collective agreement or the company policy.

Concrete examples in mobile trades

The following table applies the general rule to common situations. It gives you reference points, not an opinion on a particular case.

Situation	Paid?	Why
House cleaning: drive between the 2nd and 3rd house of a route set by the employer	Yes	Travel required by the employer
Landscaping: drive from the company garage to the first property, with the trailer	Yes, generally	You are already at work; the employer sends you to the client
Snow removal: drive from home to the garage before the storm	No, generally	Commute to the usual workplace
Moving: waiting at the depot while the truck is being prepared	Yes	At the employer's disposal at the workplace
Home care: two-hour gap between visits, free to go wherever you want	It depends	The question is whether you remain at the employer's disposal
Painting: leaving home and driving straight to a distant job site chosen by the employer	Grey zone	Check with the CNESST or your contract
Mandatory training in another city	Yes	Required training and travel; reasonable expenses reimbursed

What the "yes" answers have in common: the employer decides where you go and when. To check your own situation, take your latest pay stub and compare your paid hours with the time you left the first client and the time you left the last one. If the gap roughly matches the time spent on the road, your travel is probably being left out.

The math: when driving pushes you into overtime

Because required travel is work, it counts toward the standard work week, set at 40 hours for most employees (section 52). Beyond that, each hour is paid at a 50% premium (section 55). This is often where leaving travel out costs the most: a crew that spends 38 hours on properties and four and a half hours on the road has worked more than 40 hours. Exceptions and compensatory time off are explained in Overtime: when is it paid at time and a half?.

Example 1: a landscaping week at $20 an hour

On the properties: 38 hours. Between properties: 4.5 hours. Total: 42.5 hours.

40 hours × $20 = $800.00
2.5 hours × $30 ($20 plus 50%) = $75.00
Total owed: $875.00

If travel is ignored, the pay drops to 38 × $20 = $760.00. The difference is $115.00 a week, or $1,150.00 over a season of ten similar weeks.

Example 2: a house cleaning day at minimum wage

Four houses, 6 hours of cleaning and 1 hour 20 minutes of driving between clients, for 7 hours 20 minutes of work. At $16.60 an hour: 7.33 × $16.60 = $121.73. Without travel: 6 × $16.60 = $99.60. That is $22.13 missing per day, more than $100 over a five-day week.

Travel expenses: who pays for the gas?

Time is only half the question. Section 85.2 of the Act respecting labour standards requires the employer to reimburse the reasonable expenses you incur when the employer asks you to travel or take training. If you do your route in your own car, the mileage between clients and paid parking at a client's place are part of it.

The law does not set a per-kilometre rate. As a reference point, Finance Canada set the 2026 limit on the deduction of tax-exempt allowances paid by employers at 73 cents per kilometre for the first 5,000 kilometres and 67 cents for each additional kilometre, in the provinces. A 45-kilometre daily route therefore represents 45 × $0.73 = $32.85 at that limit. It is a tax benchmark, not a rate imposed by labour standards; for the tax treatment of your allowance, Revenu Québec and the Canada Revenue Agency are the references.

And if you are self-employed? Nobody pays for your time on the road except your client, through your price. A self-employed snow removal operator or a one-person cleaning business must therefore build travel time and vehicle costs into their rates, for example with zone-based travel fees or a minimum charge per visit. The calculation method is detailed in Setting your hourly rate as a self-employed worker: the simple method.

If your travel time is not being paid

This kind of error is often settled with a conversation backed by facts. Go about it in this order:

For two weeks, write down each day your arrival and departure times at each client, along with the kilometres driven.
Compare those hours with your pay stubs, keeping the 40-hour threshold in mind.
Ask your employer in writing, with your table attached, how travel is counted.
If nothing changes, contact the CNESST, the body responsible for enforcing labour standards.

Do not wait: under section 115 of the Act, a claim is prescribed one year after each due date, that is, after each pay on which the amount was owed. Older weeks can therefore be lost.

For employers, stating in the job posting how travel is paid prevents many resignations and complaints. Tips for publishing a clear posting are on the employers page. And if you are looking for a job where the rules are clear from day one, browse the job offers or create your free profile in about 3 minutes, no résumé needed.

In short

Travel required by the employer, such as driving between two clients on a route, is paid working time (section 57).
The commute between home and your usual workplace is normally neither paid nor reimbursed; leaving home straight for a distant client remains a grey zone.
Hours on the road count toward the 40-hour week and can entitle you to time and a half.
The employer must reimburse reasonable expenses for travel it requests (section 85.2); in 2026, the tax benchmark is 73 cents per kilometre for the first 5,000 kilometres.
If something is off, document your hours and contact the CNESST quickly: the deadline is one year per pay.

Frequently asked questions

Is travel time paid in Quebec?

Yes, when the travel is required by the employer. Section 57 of the Act respecting labour standards deems the employee to be at work during that time, so it must be paid at least at the minimum wage.

Is the commute from home to work paid?

Generally, no. According to the majority of decisions, the trip between home and the workplace is not travel required by the employer. Your contract or collective agreement may provide better, and going straight from home to a distant client should be checked with the CNESST.

Does my employer have to pay for gas if I use my car between clients?

Section 85.2 of the Act requires the employer to reimburse reasonable expenses incurred during travel it requests. The law does not set a per-kilometre rate. In 2026, the federal limit for tax-exempt allowances is 73 cents per kilometre for the first 5,000 kilometres, a useful benchmark for comparison.

Does travel time count toward overtime?

Yes. Since it is working time, it is included when calculating the 40-hour standard work week. Beyond that, each hour is paid at a 50% premium, except for exceptions set out in the law or regulations.

How long do I have to claim unpaid travel hours?

A claim based on the Act respecting labour standards is prescribed one year after each due date, meaning each pay. Start writing down your hours now and contact the CNESST without delay.