Defining 'hours worked' under the Fair Labor Standards Act
Eligible employees who are on the job for more than 40 hours in a work week are entitled to receive overtime compensation at a rate of at least one-and-a-half times their usual pay. Disagreements over what constitutes hours worked are a common cause of time and attendance lawsuits.
According to a fact sheet by the United States Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, the typical work week should include "all time during which an employee is necessarily required to be on the employer's premises, on duty or at a prescribed work place. … The workday may therefore be longer than the employee's scheduled shift, hours, tour of duty or production line time."
Particular exceptions notwithstanding, employees who have not been completely relieved of duty must be compensated - for example, workers who travel from job site to job site or are required to be on call at their place of employment, even if they're not actually working.
These rules explain why policemen, firefighters and those in similar professions often accrue high overtime.
According to a fact sheet by the United States Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, the typical work week should include "all time during which an employee is necessarily required to be on the employer's premises, on duty or at a prescribed work place. … The workday may therefore be longer than the employee's scheduled shift, hours, tour of duty or production line time."
Particular exceptions notwithstanding, employees who have not been completely relieved of duty must be compensated - for example, workers who travel from job site to job site or are required to be on call at their place of employment, even if they're not actually working.
These rules explain why policemen, firefighters and those in similar professions often accrue high overtime.
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