Skip to content
LexBuild

29 CFR § 790.12 - “Portion of the day.”

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t29/s790.12"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "29 CFR § 790.12 - “Portion of the day.”"
title_number: 29
title_name: "Labor"
section_number: "790.12"
section_name: "“Portion of the day.”"
chapter_name: "WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR"
subchapter_number: "B"
subchapter_name: "STATEMENTS OF GENERAL POLICY OR INTERPRETATION NOT DIRECTLY RELATED TO REGULATIONS"
part_number: "790"
part_name: "GENERAL STATEMENT AS TO THE EFFECT OF THE PORTAL-TO-PORTAL ACT OF 1947 ON THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "52 Stat. 1060, as amended; 110 Stat. 1755; 29 U.S.C. 201-219; 29 U.S.C. 254."
regulatory_source: "12 FR 7655, Nov. 18, 1947, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "790"
---

# 790.12 “Portion of the day.”

A “preliminary” or “postliminary” activity of the kind referred to in section 4 of the Portal Act is compensable under a contract, custom, or practice within the meaning of that section “only when it is engaged in during the portion of the day with respect to which it is so made compensable.” 
<sup>84</sup>
[^] This provision in no way affects the compensability of activities performed within the workday proper or the computation of hours worked within such workday for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act; 
<sup>85</sup>
[^] the provision is applicable only to walking, riding, traveling or other “preliminary” or “postliminary” activities of the kind described in section 4(a) of the Portal Act, 
<sup>86</sup>
[^] which are engaged in outside the workday, during the portions of the day before performance of the first principal activity and after performance of the last principal activity of the employee. 
<sup>87</sup>
[^]

<sup>84</sup> Section 4(c) of the Portal Act (set out in full in § 790.3).

<sup>85</sup> See §§ 790.4-790.6.

<sup>86</sup> Conference Report, pp. 12, 13.

<sup>87</sup> See Conference Report, p. 13; §§ 790.4(c) and 790.5(b).

The scope of section 4(c) is narrower in this respect than that of section 2(b), which is couched in identical language. Cf. Conference Report, pp. 9, 10; pp. 12, 13. See also § 790.23.