Everyday Employer Slip-ups

1. Work off the Clock. At the end of the day, or your shift, your supervisor says “You should have finished this work during your shift.  Go ahead and clock out, but you will need to finish it before you leave for the day.  I am not paying you for the time it takes to complete this job.” See Work-off-the-Clock for more information.
   
2. Short-changing Hours.  Nearly all workers take short breaks.  It is common knowledge that two or three breaks over the course of the day increase productivity and efficiency.  While your employer may encourage or even require you to take such breaks, often the time spent is not counted in your work hours for the week.  If the break lasts only five to twenty minutes, the law requires the inclusion of that time in paid time.  In addition to break time, employers often forget or fail to include travel time.  Finally, many employers don’t give 30 minutes completely free from work duties for lunch, or they require you to clock out for lunch but remain working at your station.  If you must work during lunch, then your employer must pay you for the time.  See Meal Time and Rest Breaks for more information.
   
3. Employee Misclassification. Generally speaking, companies want to keep payroll costs down.  One way to avoid costs is to not pay overtime.  To avoid paying overtime, employers will often try to fit employees who don’t qualify into exempt categories.  Exemption from the FLSA means that overtime pay is not required.  For more information, see:
   • Improper Classification
   • Managers, Supervisors, Assistant Managers and Associate Managers
   • Executive, Professional and Administrative Employees
   • Salaried Employees
     
4. Regular Rate. Overtime does not have to be paid for more than eight (8) spent working in a day, although many employers do this as an incentive. Rather, federal requirements look at an entire work week, usually a fixed period of 168 hours or seven consecutive 24-hour work periods.

   Overtime pay is usually 1 ½ the regular rate of pay in effect for that workweek. This is not limited to the standard pay for an employee. Regular rate of pay may include supplemental payments made such as shift pay, bonuses, and commissions. Plus, if the employee worked at several different rates of pay, the different rates of pay should be averaged over the week to determine the actual rate of pay for overtime calculations.

   The employer must divide the total earnings for the week by the total hours to find the effective rate of pay and use that amount to calculate the overtime premium rate. Note: Federal regulations can contain special exceptions for certain situations.

   Example:	Total hours worked	56
   	Overtime hours	16
   	Base pay for first half of week	$15 / hr. for 28 hrs.
   	Base pay for second half of week	$17.50 / hr. for 28 hrs.
   	Shift pay	$75.00
   	Other bonus	$22.00
   	Subtotal - pay for the week	$1,007.00
   	Regular rate of pay ($1,007.00 divided by 56)	$17.98 / hr.
   	Premium rate (½ regular rate)	$8.99 / hr.
   	Overtime (premium pay x overtime hours)	$143.84
   	Total gross pay (before taxes)	$1,150.84