FLSA - I'm in trouble here
AnneHa
214 Posts
Help me, pleeeeze! Our payroll administrator returned from a seminar on the new FLSA regs. She is in a panic because she was informed that even though we have a policy dealing with the times employees can clock in - no more than seven minutes prior to scheduled start time, we may still be in trouble. The policy is strictly and uniformly enforced. Discipline is swift.
Now, she has been told by a highly regarded ER friendly law firm speaker that if an EE is on the premises twenty minutes before start time, does not clock in, does not perform any work, that we would still be liable under the new FLSA regs to pay him or her for that twenty minutes. This makes no sense to me. I pored over the new regs and saw nothing like this. The speaker’s contention is that it doesn’t matter what we can show on our time records, it’s all a matter of what the EE says. That leaves the ER totally defenseless even in the face of a strong, strictly enforced policy. I can see no alternative except to ask EE’s not to enter company property (including parking area) until seven minutes prior to their scheduled shift.
We are a public access organization (public library). Our facilities are ‘open to all’ about 70 hours per week, per location. If an EE wants to clock out at the end of her shift and then use our public access computers or check out books for her personal use, we were informed that we could be liable for that time as well.
Of course, the penalties he cited were outrageous (and true, I’m sure), and the payroll department is in an uproar. Help me out, here. Have we really come to this?
Anne in Ohio
Now, she has been told by a highly regarded ER friendly law firm speaker that if an EE is on the premises twenty minutes before start time, does not clock in, does not perform any work, that we would still be liable under the new FLSA regs to pay him or her for that twenty minutes. This makes no sense to me. I pored over the new regs and saw nothing like this. The speaker’s contention is that it doesn’t matter what we can show on our time records, it’s all a matter of what the EE says. That leaves the ER totally defenseless even in the face of a strong, strictly enforced policy. I can see no alternative except to ask EE’s not to enter company property (including parking area) until seven minutes prior to their scheduled shift.
We are a public access organization (public library). Our facilities are ‘open to all’ about 70 hours per week, per location. If an EE wants to clock out at the end of her shift and then use our public access computers or check out books for her personal use, we were informed that we could be liable for that time as well.
Of course, the penalties he cited were outrageous (and true, I’m sure), and the payroll department is in an uproar. Help me out, here. Have we really come to this?
Anne in Ohio
Comments
The one exception I remember hearing about is when you require employees to wear particular gear for work, such as nuclear waste cleanup employees, then you need to pay them for the time they spend getting geared up.
Half HR
May you otherwise have a Blessed day.
PORK
Advise your payroll administrator to knock back on the caffeine just a tad.
I don't want to pay people for getting coffee and gabbing for 10 minutes every morning.
James Sokolowski
HRhero.com
There is an "engaged to be waiting" rule in FLSA which states if an employee is spending time in idleness or on call waiting for work at the employers' request, then employee must be paid. Example would be if a group of workers was waiting for a truck to come in for supplies in order for them to do their job. They are not actually performing work, but because they are required by the employer to wait for the truck, this is compensable time.
Another thing is if employees are required to change after they come to work into uniforms, etc. This would be compensable time.
In all the seminars and legal classes I have been involved in, I've never heard of this "rule".
I called our employment attorney and he also said the speaker was full of hot air. So, we're ignoring it.
I passed Larry C's advice on to the payroll administrator who burst into tears and said, "It's not the caffeine - I'm pregnant again!
Oh, joy.
Anne in Ohio
I would absolutely worry about your situation, because your records are of no use whatsoever. If someone has clocked in early, the presumption - which goes against you -is that the ee was working, and it will be next to impossible to prove he wasn't. When you have a DOL audit and your payroll doesn't compute with your clocked hours, you will have a problem. If someone is being dropped off early, you certainly may have some place for them to go and wait, but not on the clock.
Hot Damn! I see I've moved to Georgia again, I like this job! Opps! Maybe not!