Suppose there are two employees: Alice and Bob, who do the same job at the same factory. Alice has a 10 minute (20RT) commute, Bob commutes 35 minutes(70RT).
If you’re the owner of the factory, would you compensate them for their commutes? How would you do it?
The details of our individual situations are irrelevant! The assumption that my disagreement with you is based on envy rather than the merits of your ideas says a great deal about you. Your employer is not obligated to pay you for getting to work mostly because you choose where to live and you knew where the office/restaurant/factory was located when you took the job. Whose fault is it if you take a job that’s far away? Whose fault is it if you decide to move to another town afterwards? Whose fault is it if you take the bus for an hour each way instead of driving in half the time? Being an adult means taking responsibility for your own choices.
They hired me and they know where I live. It’s their choice to hire me as much as it’s my choice to be hired and my choice to choose where to live. There’s an upper limit on how much they will pay, some of the guys are at that limit and so some of their driving too and from work isn’t paid for. All of their driving while clocked in is. I think this should just be the norm for everyone. Do you get paid at all to travel to work?