Q: I was on my way into my shift, and I got a call saying my shift was cancelled.  Is that allowed?
A: The long and short of it is yes. Under federal law, employers are not required to consider time showing up as compensable time. Additionally, employees’ time traveling to work is not compensable time.  If an employee is traveling to a different location, special assignment, or has already started work, the travel time can be compensable.  However, the federal laws do not have a “reporting time” pay that would compensate someone just for showing up or starting to travel into work.
This answer comes with the caveat that some states have stronger protections than the federal laws.  For example, California has a “reporting time pay” law that covers this situation and guarantees at least partial compensation for reporting to work.  Additionally, company handbooks and union contracts sometimes require compensation for this situation.
Jonathan
Jonathan Boulahanis is an attorney in the Chicago office of Clark Hill PLC and is a leader of the firm’s Food and Beverage team.  Since Jonathan can’t cook like his Italian mother and the fast food was going to his hips, he became a self-proclaimed foodie. As an attorney, he has made a commitment to serve the food and beverage industry, no pun intended, by representing restaurants, bars, individuals, and other food and beverage businesses with various legal issues as they arise. You can reach him by sending an email to submissions@shiftgig.com.    
LEGAL DISCLAIMER:
The responses provided in this blog are for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact an attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Use of this blog does not create an attorney-client relationship between Jonathan Boulahanis or Clark Hill PLC and the user.
***This article was posted as part of a question and answer series that Jonathan Boulahanis is conducting with Shiftgig.com. The article, as well as all other articles in the series, can be found at http://www.shiftgig.com/articles.