On-call time counts when the restrictions are tight enough that you cannot use the time for your own purposes. Ordinary commuting does not count, but travel during the workday does, and travel that keeps you away overnight counts for the hours that fall in your normal working hours. Training counts unless it is genuinely voluntary, outside working hours, unrelated to your job and involves no productive work.
On-call
Waiting at the employer’s premises is working time. Being on call at home turns on how restrictive the conditions are: a fifteen-minute response radius, a ban on alcohol, a requirement to stay reachable and presentable can together make the time unusable for anything else, and then it counts.
Simply carrying a phone and being reachable usually does not. The question a court asks is whether you could effectively use the time for your own purposes.
Travel
Home to work and back does not count, however long it is. Travel between job sites during the day does. A special one-day assignment in another city counts, generally excluding the ordinary commute portion.
Overnight travel counts for the hours falling within your normal working hours, including on days you would not usually work — so a Sunday flight during what would be Monday’s working hours is paid.
Training
It counts unless all four apply: attendance is genuinely voluntary, it is outside normal working hours, it is not directly related to your current job, and you perform no productive work during it. “Voluntary” means no consequence for declining, which is rarer than employers assume.
The pieces that vanish
Putting on required protective gear, starting up systems before a shift, closing down after, mandatory meetings, and answering messages in the evening. Each is small and each is compensable when it is integral to the job.
What to do
Record it as it happens — date, start, end, what you were doing. Contemporaneous notes are worth far more than a reconstruction, and these categories are where the largest unrecorded totals accumulate.
Common questions
Does on-call time count as work?
When the restrictions are tight enough that you cannot use the time for your own purposes. Merely being reachable usually does not.
Is my commute paid?
No, however long it is. Travel between sites during the workday is paid, and so is a special one-day assignment elsewhere.
What about overnight travel?
It counts for the hours falling within your normal working hours, including on days you would not usually work.
Is training paid?
Yes unless it is genuinely voluntary, outside working hours, unrelated to your current job, and involves no productive work — all four.
What small things get missed?
Required gear, pre-shift setup, post-shift closing, mandatory meetings and evening messages. Each is compensable when integral to the job.