Transcript Feb. 13 SVAPA Meeting

Thursday, February 13, 2014
Hours Worked
and
Related Pay Obligations
Presented by:
Brian Dixon
Co-Chair, Wage and Hour Practice Group
Littler Mendelson, P.C.
[email protected]
415.677.3194
Please Note:
Descriptions of these federal and
state laws are summaries and should
not be relied upon at face value
without considering the text of the
statutes and/or speaking with an
attorney.
Agenda
• What is work time?
– Limited general concepts, state variations,
“cookbook” approach under each law
• What pay obligations flow from work time?
– Meal and rest periods
– Days of rest
– Reporting pay, split shift premiums
What is “Work”?
• The FLSA does not
include a definition
of “work”
Continuous Work Day – Federal Law
• Employees must be paid for all hours within
a workday, from the first principal activity to the last
principal activity
• A “principal activity” includes any activity that is an
integral and indispensable part of an employee's
work
• In general, “work” includes all the time an
employee must be on duty, on the employer’s
premises, or at any other prescribed place of work
Work “Suffered or Permitted”
• All work “suffered or permitted” by
the employer must be compensated, including:
– Work requested or required by the employer
– Work not requested, but permitted
– Work the employer knows or has reason
to believe is being performed – even if not expressly requested
Key Concepts
• Work is broadly interpreted to the
employee’s benefit
• Employees must be paid from
“whistle to whistle,” with limited
exception
• Work includes any time the
employee is required, requested,
suffered or permitted to work
• It is the duty of management to
see that work not required or
requested is not performed
Analysis of Working Time:
Book-Ending the Day
• What time did the employee perform the first
principal work activity?
• Is the employee performing work remotely?
– Is remote work being captured in timekeeping
system?
– Is travel time being captured?
• What time did the employee perform the last
principal work activity?
• Is the employee working from home at night?
Is the Activity Work Time?
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•
•
•
•
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•
•
Meal & Rest Breaks
Waiting Time
On-Call Time
Training/Meeting Time
Travel Time
Pre- and Post-Shift Activities
Sleep Time
Grievances, Suggestion Systems and Charitable
Activities
Meal & Rest Breaks
• A meal period may be unpaid if 30 minutes
or longer and the employee is completely
relieved of duties
• An employer may require an employee to
remain at the worksite during a meal or rest
break without making the meal period into
work time under federal law
• A rest period of 20 minutes or less is
compensable work time
On-Call Time
• On-call time is compensable if an employee is unable to
use the time effectively for his/her own purposes
–
–
–
–
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Required to stay on or close to the employer’s premises
Responds to calls frequently
Short required response time
Any other limitations on employee’s use of his or her time
Any practice which limits the burden of being on call
• On-call time is not work merely because the employee
is required to carry a pager, cell phone or leave a
telephone number where s/he can be reached
Waiting Time
• Employees must be
paid for time spent
“engaged to be
waiting”
• Employees “waiting to
be engaged” are not
working
Training/Meeting Time
• Training/meeting time is
compensable work hours unless
all four of the following
requirements are met:
1. Attendance is outside regular
working hours
2. Attendance is voluntary
3. The training/meeting is not job
related
4. The employee does not perform
any productive work during the
training/meeting
Travel Time - FLSA
• Compensable
– Travel between job sites
during the work day
– Travel to another city
for special one-day
assignments (minus
normal commute time)
– Overnight travel during
the employee’s normal
work hours (on a work
or non-work day)
• Not Compensable
– Normal home-to-work
commuting, unless
employee begins work
prior to commuting
– Overnight travel, if
outside the employee’s
normal
work hours (on a work or
non-work day)
Travel Time
• Some states laws require all
travel time to be paid except
the normal commute
• Travel time can be paid at a
different lower wage rate (e.g.
at the minimum wage), if that
rate applies to all travel
Travel in Company Vehicle - ECFA
• Home-to-work travel in a company vehicle, and
any activities “incidental” to such travel is not
work time where:
– Use of vehicle is voluntary
– No expense is incurred by employee in use of vehicle
– Vehicle is of a type ordinarily used for commuting
– Work sites are within normal commute distance of
employer's office
Pre- and Post-Shift Activities
• Work:
– Booting up and
turning off the
computer
– Reading emails
– Shift-change
conversations
– Donning/doffing
• Not work:
– Commuting
– Walking from
the parking lot
to the work
station
– Waiting to
punch
a time clock
“Donning and Doffing”
• Compensable:
– If putting on and taking off clothing
or protective gear on the employer’s
premises is required by law, the
employer, or the nature of the work
– Waiting in line for uniform
– Walking after obtaining the uniform
to the place where employees
don/doff and to the work station
“Donning and Doffing”
• Not Compensable:
– If employees are allowed to
don/doff clothing at home, but
choose to change at work
– If the aggregate time spent
donning, walking, waiting and
doffing is de minimis
Cleaning & Maintaining Uniforms
• What is a uniform?
– Defined by state law
– Usually includes any distinctive clothing
that an employee would not wear on a
non-work day
– Uniform: a shirt with a company logo
– Not a uniform: khaki pants with a blue
shirt
• Employees may be working if required
to clean or repair a uniform beyond
normal washing and drying
Suggestion Systems, Resolving Grievances,
Charitable Activities
• Time spent by an employee preparing
suggestions, resolving grievances and
participating in charitable activities need not be
compensated if:
– Participating in the activity is voluntary, and
– Occurs outside normal working hours
Sleep Time
• Sleep time can be excluded
from work time only if for
employees on duty 24 hours, and the employee:
–
–
–
–
–
Agrees that up to 8 hours of sleep time will not be paid
Has adequate sleeping facilities
Is generally able to enjoy an uninterrupted night of sleep
Is paid for any interruption of sleep time
Is paid for the entire night if the employee gets less than five
hours of sleep
– Up to three, one-hour off-duty meal periods also may be
unpaid
“Off-the-Clock” Red Flags
• Recorded time is almost always a nice
round number (e.g., 9:00 a.m., 5:30 pm)
• Recorded time is almost always the same
as the scheduled shift
• Time records show a significant number of
missed punches, adjustments to time, or
other anomalous entries
• Time punches/entries do not match hours
worked shown on payroll records
• Employees observed in the workplace
before clocking in, during lunch, or after
clocking out
“Rounding” Time
• Rounding increment does not exceed
quarter hour
• Rounding operates to the benefit and
burden of the employee and the
employer
– Schedule corresponds with the rounding
increment
– No employer practice undoes rounding
– Round meal periods?
“De minimis time”
• De minimis amounts of time
need not be recorded or paid
• Time may be de minimis
based on:
– Amount of time on
any single occasion
– Frequency of occurrence
– Administrative difficulty
in recording the time
– Total amount of time at issue
Meal & Rest Breaks
State Law
• About 25 states require meal breaks
– States with meal break requirements
usually require a 30-minute break after 5
or 6 consecutive hours of work
– Some states require that employees be
free to leave the worksite
• Less then 10 states require rest breaks
– States with rest break requirements
usually require a 10-minute break for
each 4 hours of work
California Meal Periods
• One 30-minute meal period for every
five hours of work, unless
– Six hours of work will complete the employee's
work for the day and the employee waives
the meal period
– Variations by wage order for some initial meal
periods and second meal periods
• An on-duty meal period can be used only
where:
– The nature of the work truly prevents the
employee from being relieved of all duties
– The employee agrees in writing to work through
the meal period The meal period is counted and
paid as work time
California Rest Periods
Hours of Work
Rest Periods
0 - 3.5
3.5 - 6
6 - 10
10 – 14
14 – 16
0
1
2
3
4
Reporting Pay
• Some states require employers to pay an employee
for a minimum number of hours
if the employee reports to work when no
work is available
– Paid at the employee’s regular rate
– Pay the lesser of a minimum number of hours or the
scheduled shift
– Requirements vary by state and, within states, can vary
by industry
Reporting Pay
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
California – 2 to 4 hours
Connecticut – 2 or 4 hours in some industries
Washington, D.C. – 4 hours
Massachusetts – 3 hours
New Hampshire – 2 hours
New Jersey – 1 hour
New York – 1 to 8 hours,
depending on industry, shifts
• Oregon – 1 hour to minors only
• Rhode Island – 3 hours
Split-Shift Pay
• Employers may be required
to provide extra pay for employees
who work a split shift in:
– California
– New York
– Washington D.C.
• Split-shift scheduling
is prohibited in Hawaii
• California split-shift premium:
– ((Hours Worked + 1) * MW) – Wages Earned
• New York split-shift premium
Split-Shift Pay
• Only New York defines a split shift:
– 10 hour non-work period between shifts
• California, New York and D.C.
all require an additional 1 hour of pay
at minimum wage,
but this requirement is met if:
– Wages Earned > (Hours Worked + 1) * MW
– If test not met, pay the difference
Day of Rest Laws
• Half a dozen states have
day-of-rest laws
• Many are related to
recognizing a Sabbath
and may have Constitutional
issues
• California – an employer
must provide one day’s
rest out of every seven
Questions and Answers
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Thank You
Brian Dixon
Littler, San Francisco