My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: NC
A good friend of mine works for me. Occasionally our business has events away from our office (about 35 miles away from our office). I just learned that when she was working at this off-site location, she was charging us for the time commuted in addition to her actual work hours. She did this in order to cover her extra gas and wear on her car. I am at fault for not keeping a closer eye on her hours and catching it earlier.
There were occasions that she was using her own car to transport material from our office to the site. In this case, I expected that she would charge for the time. However, she has also been charging us for her commute.
I am wondering:
1. Do I have an obligation to pay her for extra travel when working someplace other than our office? Or would we be obliged to pay her only if she is using her vehicle to transport our materials?
2. If we did want to help her out with the extra miles (or are legally bound to), we do this through reimbursing her mileage (at .58/mile, I believe), not paying for her commute time, correct?
3. If we do pay the mileage, will we still be paying our usual payroll taxes, etc for this extra amount?
Thanks!

