Publications informing employment lawyers of recent court cases are reporting about basic errors employers are making when paying employees. We would like to help you avoid those mistakes.
Here are two common rules that can be easy to break:
Record All Hours Worked
The United States Department of Labor is starting to pay closer attention to the time it takes customer service employees to boot up as computers become more central to performing workplace tasks. Due to the protective programs on laptops, some employees must wait 20 minutes to get into the required timekeeping system. Logging off can take 15 minutes. This is compensable time, and if the employee must log on after the computer starts and log off before shutting it down, more than a half hour of required activity is off the clock. This is not lawful; instead, all time must be recorded and paid. If you are an Employers Council member having trouble with a similar issue, speaking to one of our staff members might help generate solutions.
Pay Overtime on All Amounts Earned
Another recent case involved a bank that was providing bonuses if the branch’s performance hit a certain level. The bonuses were not added back into the regular rate when determining the amount of overtime to be paid each week. Any bonus meant to incentivize employee behavior must be added back into the regular rate before paying out overtime. If you need help, our Regular Rate whitepaper explains how this is to be calculated.
Wage and hour laws concerning hourly employees are numerous and are not intuitive. Employers Council can help ensure you are paying employees properly. If you have any questions, please email the Member Experience Team.
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