The Department of Labor website explains that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) “establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments.”
Employees are typically classified with either exempt or non-exempt status based on their job duties and salary. Among the regulations, it states that non-exempt workers are entitled to overtime pay after working 40 hours in a work week at one and one-half times their regular earnings. Requirements for breaks and meal breaks must also be closely followed and monitored.
To make this even more complicated, in addition to the federal laws, most states have their own wage and hour laws that employers must follow. Some states, in addition to the federal weekly overtime, have daily overtime rules that must be applied for non-exempt employees. Employers doing business and/or who have employees in states which have daily overtime rules must follow these as well.
Employers are also required to keep timekeeping records for non-exempt workers. The Fact Sheet #21, produced by the Department of Labor, explains that, while no particular form is required and any timekeeping method may be used, certain specific information must be collected and retained. Employers are commonly turning to Human Capital Management (HCM) software to help with the data collection and storage that helps meet these compliance requirements.
As part of our monthly series, we are offering the following, free one-hour webinar to help our clients and friends better understand the processes around paying workers and what important policies to have in place:
Wage & Hour Done Right
Wednesday, December 19th at 11:00am PST
When registering for the session, please ensure that you enter ‘Bennett/Porter & Associates’ in the registration field that reads “Please provide the name of the company that referred you to this webinar.”