NEMT Driver Timesheet Template: Weekly Hours, Waits, Breaks, and Overtime

A NEMT driver’s day does not fit a plain punch card. There is the early pre-trip check, a string of dialysis drop-offs, a two-hour gap, a wait at a clinic for a will-call return, and a van to clean before going home. Overtime depends on which of those hours count, and so does your defense if a driver ever says they were not paid for them. This timesheet gives each piece of the day its own line, so the week adds up the way federal wage rules count it.

How to use this template

1. Set the workweek once. Pick a fixed start day and hour, such as Sunday at 12:00 a.m., and write it in Part 1. A workweek is a fixed, recurring 168 hours, and once set it stays put (29 CFR 778.105).
2. Use one sheet per driver per workweek. Drivers fill in Part 2 as the day goes, in pen or in your driver app.
3. Log releases when they happen. When dispatch frees a driver during a gap, the dispatcher writes the release and the return time in Part 3 before the driver leaves.
4. Add other work in Part 4. Dispatch shifts, required training, and meetings go there, especially when they pay a different rate.
5. Total the week in Part 5 after the last shift, and make any fixes in Part 6 with both sets of initials.
6. Sign Part 7 before payroll runs, then file the sheet with the driver’s trip logs for the week.

Fact Sheet #21 from the Labor Department (revised July 2008) says any timekeeping method works, including drivers writing down their own times, as long as the record is complete and accurate. For the pay math this sheet feeds, see NEMT driver overtime.

The template

Part 1: Driver, workweek, and pay

Field	Entry
Driver’s full name (as used for Social Security)
Employee number
Home address and ZIP code
Job (driver, or driver and dispatcher)
Date of birth, only if under 19
Our workweek begins (day and time)
This workweek runs from, to
Basis of pay (hourly, per trip, day rate, salary)
Driving rate
Waiting rate, if you agreed on a different one (never below minimum wage)
Dispatch or office rate, if different
Bonuses promised in advance (on-time, attendance)
Pay period and payday

Part 2: Daily time log

Clock in when the first required task starts, such as the pre-trip check. Clock out after the last required task, such as parking and cleaning the van and finishing trip notes. Use the middle “Out” and “In” only when dispatch released you for a gap (Part 3). Count a meal break only when you were fully off duty.

Day and date	In	Out	In	Out	Meal break (minutes)	Hours worked	Trips	Initials
Week total

Part 3: Waits and released gaps

One line for every wait at a pickup, clinic, dialysis center, or hospital, and every gap between runs. “On duty” means the driver stayed with the van or rider, or had to stay close by for a will-call. “Released until” is the return time dispatch gave before the driver left, with the dispatcher’s name.

Date	Place	From	To	Minutes	On duty?	Released until, and by whom	Work?

Part 4: Other work this week

Date	Work (dispatch, office, required training, meeting, fueling or cleaning outside a shift)	From	To	Hours	Rate, if different

Part 5: Weekly totals and overtime (office use)

Line	Amount
A. Hours worked this workweek (Part 2 week total plus Part 4)
B. Hours over 40 (A minus 40, or zero)
C. State daily or seventh-day overtime hours, if your state has them
D. Straight-time pay for all hours in A (each hourly rate times its hours, plus all trip pay and day rates)
E. Bonuses promised in advance, earned this week
F. Total for the regular rate (D plus E)
G. Regular rate (F divided by A)
H. Overtime premium (half of G, times B)
I. State overtime premium not already in H
J. Expense and mileage repayments (kept out of the regular rate)
K. Total pay (F plus H plus I plus J)
L. Minimum wage check: G is at or above the state or federal minimum, whichever is higher

A salary pays only for the hours it is meant to cover, so a salaried driver’s regular rate is the salary divided by those hours, and every hour over 40 earns one and a half times it (29 CFR 778.113). Figure salaried drivers outside lines D to H.

Part 6: Corrections

Date	Line changed	Old entry	New entry	Reason	Driver initials	Manager initials

Part 7: Sign-off

	Name	Signature	Date
Driver: these times are complete and correct, and I did no work that is not shown here
Manager: reviewed and approved for payroll
Entered in payroll by

Example: one dialysis day, filled in

Here is a split-shift day for one driver, as Parts 2 and 3 would record it. The times are an example, not a standard.

Time	What happened	Counts as work?
4:45 a.m.	Clocks in and starts the pre-trip check of the van and lift	Yes
5:15 to 9:40 a.m.	Six dialysis drop-offs	Yes
9:40 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.	Dispatch releases the driver until 12:30 p.m., written in Part 3, and the driver goes home	No
12:30 to 2:10 p.m.	Dialysis returns	Yes
2:10 to 2:40 p.m.	Meal break, fully off duty	No
2:40 to 3:25 p.m.	Waits at a clinic with the van for a will-call return	Yes
3:25 to 5:25 p.m.	The will-call ride and afternoon returns, then back to the lot	Yes
5:25 to 5:40 p.m.	Cleans the van, finishes trip notes, clocks out	Yes

In Part 2, the day reads In 4:45, Out 9:40, In 12:30, Out 5:40, with a 30-minute meal. That is 4 hours 55 minutes plus 5 hours 10 minutes, minus the meal, for 9 hours 35 minutes worked. The 45-minute clinic wait stays in, because the driver had to stay with the van. The morning gap comes out only because the release and the return time were set before the driver left. In New York, this day is both a split shift and a spread of more than 10 hours, and in California it is a split shift, so check the state rules below. For how the waits also bill, see NEMT wait time billing, and for the cost of long waits, the wait time cost calculator.

The federal rules behind each part

The federal record rules prescribe no particular form, only what the record must contain (29 CFR 516.1). For every covered employee, the required items map to this sheet like this:

Required record (29 CFR 516.2)	Where it goes
Full name, home address, occupation, and date of birth if under 19	Part 1
Time of day and day of week the workweek begins	Part 1
Basis of pay, and the regular hourly rate in any week with overtime	Parts 1 and 5
Hours worked each workday and total hours each workweek	Parts 2, 4, and 5
Straight-time earnings and total overtime premium	Part 5
Sex, additions and deductions, total wages, and the pay date and period	Your payroll records

The hours rules decide what goes in each line:

• The workday starts with the first required task. Getting the vehicle ready is part of the job, like oiling a machine before a shift, and the time from the first to the last principal activity is work (29 CFR 785.24 and 790.6).
• Waiting on duty is work. A driver who must wait with the vehicle, or look after your property while waiting, is working (785.15 and 785.16(b)).
• Released time is not. It is off duty only if the driver is told in advance they may leave and must return at a definite time, and the gap is long enough to use as their own (785.16(a)).
• Short breaks are paid. Rest periods of 5 to about 20 minutes count as hours worked (785.18).
• Meal breaks come out only when real. The driver must be completely relieved from duty, ordinarily for 30 minutes or more. Eating while watching a rider or the van is work (785.19).
• The home commute is not work (785.35), but driving from your lot to the first pickup is (785.38). Driving a company van home and back is not work when it stays within your normal commuting area and you and the driver have agreed to it (29 U.S.C. 254(a)).
• Work you did not ask for still counts. A rule against off-the-clock work is not enough. You must enforce it (785.13).
• Rounding must even out. Rounding to the nearest 5 minutes, tenth, or quarter hour is accepted only if drivers are still paid for all their time over a period (785.48).

Keep the records safe and at hand at your place of business, or at a central records office that can produce them within 72 hours of a Labor Department request (516.7). Federal law sets no limit on the hours in a workweek for workers 16 and older, so the limits below come from states and cities. The driver cost calculator turns these hours into cost per trip.

State and local rules that change the timesheet

State wage rules add to the federal ones. These change what the sheet must show:

Place	Rule	What to add to the sheet
California (IWC Wage Order 9, transportation industry)	Time records must show when each work period begins and ends, meal periods, split shift intervals, and daily totals. A work period over 5 hours needs a 30-minute meal period, unless 6 hours or less completes the day and both sides agree to skip it. A work period over 10 hours needs a second one, which both sides may skip only if the day is 12 hours or less and the first was taken. Rest is 10 paid minutes for each 4 hours worked or major part of 4 hours. A missed meal period costs one hour of pay at the regular rate for that workday, and so does a missed rest period. A split shift adds one hour’s pay at the minimum wage on top of the minimum wage owed for the day. Records are kept at least 3 years.	Record every meal and every split, and a rest break column if you want proof they were given
New York (12 NYCRR Part 142, CR 142 dated December 2025)	A day with a split shift, or more than 10 hours from start to finish, adds one hour’s pay at the basic minimum wage on top of the minimum wage owed for that day, so it matters for drivers paid at or near the minimum. Payroll records must show daily and weekly hours, plus arrival and departure times on those days, and are kept 6 years.	Keep both In and Out pairs in Part 2 on split days
Florida transportation disadvantaged operators (Rules 14-90.006 and 41-2.006)	No driving more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period, or after 16 hours on duty, and 8 hours off before driving again. No more than 72 hours on duty in 7 days, reset by 24 hours off. The work period starts when the driver first reports for duty.	Driving hours and on-duty hours, counted from midnight to midnight
Portland, Oregon (City Code 16.40.780)	No NEMT driving after 12 hours of driving in any 24-hour period	Driving hours each day

Florida’s limits reach every “bus transit system” in the state rule. The definition includes community transportation coordinators and private contract providers with recurring trips under the same contract. Rule 41-2.006 also requires each coordinator, and every operator paid with transportation disadvantaged funds, to meet chapter 14-90.

Several other states require breaks. The Labor Department’s state tables, dated January 1, 2023, list paid rest breaks in Kentucky, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington as well as California and Colorado, and meal periods in 21 states, some only for certain industries. Each state has its own exceptions, some of them for drivers, so confirm your state’s rule with its labor office. NEMT driver schedules shows how to plan shifts around them.

How long to keep it

Keep each timesheet for the longest period any rule or contract you work under requires.

Rule	How long	Source
Federal time sheets and wage rate tables	At least 2 years	29 CFR 516.6
Federal payroll records	At least 3 years	29 CFR 516.5
California time records	At least 3 years	Wage Order 9, section 7(C)
New York payroll records with hours	At least 6 years	12 NYCRR 142-2.6
MTM Health standard agreement	Full records of your operations under it for 10 years, or longer if law requires	Section 2.S, January 1, 2023 version Pennsylvania posts

The NEMT record retention guide covers the rest of your files.

Matching the timesheet to your trip records

Your trip logs and claims carry times too, and an auditor can put them side by side. Georgia requires the appointment time, scheduled pickup time, actual pickup time, and actual drop-off time on NEMT encounter claims for codes A0120, A0130, T2005, and A0080 (manual Appendix M, dated July 1, 2026). Every pickup and drop-off a driver made should fall between that driver’s In and Out times for the day. A trip logged while the driver was clocked out means one of the two records is wrong, and both are yours.

A few habits keep them in step:

1. Check the first pickup and last drop-off on each day’s trip log against Part 2 before you approve the sheet.
2. Count trips completed in Part 2 and compare the number with the trip log.
3. Fix errors in Part 6, never by writing over the old entry.
4. File the timesheet with that week’s trip logs, so one pull answers both a wage question and a billing question. See NEMT trip documentation.

These rules cover drivers who are your employees. If you pay drivers as contractors, check first whether the wage law treats them as employees in are NEMT drivers 1099 or W-2.