What’s “work”
under FLSA?
Under
the US Fair Labor Standards Act, most employees are
entitled to time-and-a-half for time worked beyond 40
hours in one week. A workweek is defined as any regularly
recurring period of seven consecutive 24-hour days.
In our industry, you don’t have to worry about
the hours in a day, just the total hours in the "workweek".
This sounds simple, but “work” under the FLSA can include:
Any time spent for the employer's benefit,
with the employer's knowledge and acquiescence.
Work that is “suffered or permitted.” If an employee
works late, whether or not she’s asked to, it counts
under FLSA.
Sticky
issues:
¨
Unauthorized work: The fact that any employee supervisor
may know about the unauthorized work may be enough to
render unauthorized work compensable. It is compensable
if it can be proven: (1) the employer was in a position
to see the employees work, (2) there was too much work
performed for the regular working hours, or (3) there
were repeated occasions of extra work being performed.
¨
Work away from the jobsite: Offsite work is compensable
if the employee is working for the employer's benefit
regardless of location.
¨
On Call Time: On call time is not compensable if the
employee can use the time for his or her own purposes.
Only the time actually working during the on call period
is compensable.
¨
Rest Periods: Compensable if less than 20 minutes.
¨
Meal Periods: 30 minutes or longer are not hours worked
if the employee is completely relieved of duty, and
free to leave the workstation.
¨
Training: Training programs and meetings, except those
attended voluntarily out of regular work hours and not
"directly related" to the employee's job,
are compensable. If a training program is required,
or during work hours, or directly related to an employee’s
job, it’s “work".
¨
Travel time: travel to and from the place of work is
not generally compensable, but travel in the course
of the day, such as from one job site to another, is
compensable. Travel out of town may be compensable
depending on when it occurs and whether the trip is
overnight.
Things
to watch out for to avoid a problem with this law:
¨
Employees taking a break at their workstation
are considered on duty, therefore that break time must
be paid.
¨
Employees coming in early to set up for
the day, or staying late to clean up are also considered
on duty, therefore this time must be paid.
¨
Meal periods need to be at least 30 minutes
to be deducted.
If an employee takes a short lunch break or eats
lunch at his or her workstation and you dock them for
the 30 minutes, you could be in violation.
¨
Breaks that are longer than 20 minutes
and the employees have been completely relieved of duties
are not compensable. But if you retrieve them from a
break for a rush order, then you must pay them for the
break.
¨
Activities like changing into work clothes,
cleaning equipment, and filling out time sheets are
also “work,” regardless of when they’re done
¨
Employees regularly taking work home to
complete.
Remember,
compensatory time and workweek averaging are not allowed
in our industry.
|
