Effective December 1st , the new overtime rule will result in many employers having to track work hours of those employees who are newly eligible for overtime. For some, this is the first time they’ll be tracking hours and I’ve been getting some recurring questions about time keeping. Here are 3 common ones:
- Do overtime-eligible employees need to punch a clock (or use an app) to track their hours on a daily basis?
No. Employers are not required to note specific start and end times. So, even though the law does require an accurate record of hours worked by an employee in a given day, it only requires the total hours worked , not the time when they were worked.
For employees who work a fixed schedule, they could simply keep a record of the schedule and indicate changes, if any, to the supervisor when turning it in.
The same goes for employees with flexible schedules, the employee simply needs to note the total number of hours worked in a given date, but not the time they start and stop work.
Hours don’t have to be reported daily, employees can turn those in (including overtime hours if any) by the end of each pay period.
- Do employees have to clock-out and back in when taking lunch?
No. Again, because employers are not required to note specific start and end times but only the total number of hours worked, when someone takes lunch is irrelevant (for time-keeping purposes).
- Must a formerly salaried but newly overtime-eligible employee earning below the new level of $47,476 be converted to hourly pay?
Not necessarily. They can stay salaried AND be overtime-eligible. You would simply need to have the employee track their time so you can pay for overtime when/if it’s worked. This might be a good alternative to try with a trusted employee who’s is currently salaried and making for example $40,000 and you won’t be raising them up to new threshold. It does carry some risk, but it may soften the perception of the change in status.
Lastly, make sure, whatever type of time keeping record you use, the employee always signs it.
Do you have specific questions relating to the new rule? Check out the Department of Labor’s FAQ page at DOL Q and A and Record keeping factsheet
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Eva Del Rio is creator of HR Box™ – tools for small businesses and startups. Send questions to Eva@evadelrio.com
