INTERPRETIVE BULLETIN FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT

[Pages:22]FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT

DISCLAIMER: This interpretive bulletin shall not be interpreted or construed to supersede any applicable federal, State, or local law or ordinance, or appointing authority policy. In the case of any inconsistencies it contains, the statutory and regulatory provisions shall prevail.

I. PURPOSE:

A. This interpretive bulletin is to provide agencies with an overview of those aspects of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), as amended, which are most commonly encountered in the course of business.

B. This interpretative bulletin is intended to provide managers with a general understanding of those provisions and is not intended to be all-inclusive or utilized as a protocol in addressing FLSA issues. Managers should consult with appropriate agency, Department of Labor (DOL), and/or West Virginia Division of Personnel (DOP) staff when addressing FLSA issues.

II. DEFINITIONS:

A. Exempt Employees: Those employees exempt from all but the record keeping provisions of the FLSA. These employees are not required by law to receive overtime compensation and are considered as "salaried."

B. Non-Exempt Employees: Those employees whose work is regulated by the FLSA minimum wage, overtime, and record keeping provisions.

1. These employees are entitled to overtime compensation for all hours worked in excess of forty (40) in the workweek or work period (when designated by fire protection or law enforcement agencies).

2. The FLSA requires employers to pay nonexempt employees a rate at least equal to the federal minimum wage and an overtime rate of one and-one-half times the employees' regular rates for time worked in excess of forty (40) hours in a workweek or work period (when designated by fire protection or law enforcement agencies).

3. Most State wage and hour laws are patterned after the FLSA, but some include provisions that are more protective of workers.

C. Non-Exempt Salaried Employees: Those who are not exempted from the FLSA minimum wage and overtime provisions, but who are compensated on a per annum basis.

D. Gap Time: The difference between the work hours, which are less than forty (40) hours, that an employee normally works and the forty (40) hour point beyond which the FSLA requires overtime to be paid.

Interpretive Bulletin Fair Labor Standards Act EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2000; LATEST REVISION: January 1, 2020

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For example, if an employee's normal workweek is 35, 37?, or 38 hours, the "gap time" would be those hours between 35, 37?, or 38 hours, respectively, and forty (40) hours.

E. Work Period: Section 7(k) of the FLSA provides that employees engaged in fire protection or law enforcement may be paid overtime on a "work period" basis. A "work period" may be from 7 consecutive days to 28 consecutive days in length. For work periods of at least 7, but less than 28 days, overtime pay is required when the number of hours worked exceeds the number of hours that bears the same relationship to 212 (fire) or 171 (police) as the number of days in the work period bears to 28. For example, fire protection personnel are due overtime under such a plan after 106 hours worked during a 14-day work period, while law enforcement personnel must receive overtime after 86 hours worked during a 14-day work period.

F. Workweek: A workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours; seven (7) consecutive 24-hour periods and need not coincide with the calendar week but may begin on any day and at any hour of the day. Different workweeks may be established for different employees or groups of employees.

III. INTERPRETIVE MATERIAL

A. Exclusions. Certain employees are not covered under the FLSA. These are employees who are not subject to the civil service laws of the State and who:

1. Hold a public elective office;

2. Are selected as a member of the personal staff by a public elective office holder;

3. Are appointed by a public elective office holder to serve on a policy-making level or as an immediate advisor; or

4. Are an employee of the Legislative Branch of same government (and who is not employed by the legislative library).

B. Misclassifying employees for purposes of complying with federal and state wage-hour laws can be a costly mistake. Employers who mistakenly classify nonexempt employees as exempt can be required to pay fines and back wages due employees; however, an employer can help minimize these risks by establishing procedures governing who is responsible for classifying employees and how classification decisions are made.

C. While the FLSA includes a wide variety of partial and complete exemptions from its minimum wage and overtime requirements, most employer classification procedures are confined to evaluating an employee's status under the FLSA's so-called white-collar exemptions for executive, professional, administrative, computer, outside sales, and highly compensated employees.

Interpretive Bulletin Fair Labor Standards Act EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2000; LATEST REVISION: January 1, 2020

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D. An employee of a public agency who otherwise meets the salary basis requirements of Section 541.602 shall not be disqualified from exemption under Sections 541.100, 541.200, 541.300, or 541.400 on the basis that such employee is paid according to a pay system established by statute, ordinance, or regulation, or by a policy or practice established pursuant to principles of public accountability, under which the employee accrues personal leave and sick leave, and which requires the public agency employee's pay to be reduced or such employee to be placed on leave without pay for absences for personal reasons or because of illness or injury of less than one workday when accrued leave is not used by an employee because:

1. Permission for its use has not been sought or has been sought and denied;

2. Accrued leave has been exhausted; or

3. The employee chooses to use leave without pay.

E. Deductions from the pay of an employee of a public agency for absences due to a budget-required furlough will disqualify the employee from being paid on a salary basis only in the workweek in which the furlough occurs and for which the employee's pay is accordingly reduced.

F. State agencies and county health departments affiliated with DOP shall comply with all applicable provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. 201, et seq. and its regulations 29 C.F.R. Chapter V, including, but not limited, to the following:

1. Working Time: The FLSA does not require:

a. Extra pay for Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays, as such;

b. Pay for vacations or holidays, or severance pay;

c. Discharge notices;

d. Limits on the number of hours of work for persons 16 years of age or over, as long as overtime pay provisions are met;

e. Time off for holidays or vacations.

2. Overtime: The FLSA requires that covered, nonexempt employees receive not less than one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for hours worked in excess of forty (40) during a workweek or hours worked in excess of the established work period (when designated by fire protection or law enforcement agencies).

Interpretive Bulletin Fair Labor Standards Act EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2000; LATEST REVISION: January 1, 2020

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3. Compensatory Time: A public agency which is a state, a political subdivision of a state, or an interstate governmental agency, may provide compensatory time off in lieu of monetary overtime compensation. Compensatory time received by an employee in lieu of cash must be at the rate of not less than one and one-half hours of compensatory time for each hour of overtime work, just as the monetary rate for overtime is calculated at the rate of not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay. The FLSA requires an agreement or understanding between the employer and employee prior to the performance of work. Law enforcement, fire protection, and emergency response personnel and employees engaged in seasonal activities may accrue up to 480 hours of comp time; all other state and local government employees may accrue up to 240 hours. Compensatory time should be paid out upon separation from employment.

4. On-Call Time: An employee who is required to remain on call on the employer's premises or so close thereto that he or she cannot use the time effectively for his or her own purposes is working while "on call." An employee who is not required to remain on the employer's premises but is merely required to leave word at his or her home or with company officials where he or she may be reached is not working while on call unless a very short response time, e.g., within a few minutes, is required and such a response period is unreasonable.

5. Rest Periods: Rest periods of short duration, running from five (5) minutes to about 20 minutes, are common. They promote the efficiency of the employee and are customarily paid for as working time. They must be counted as hours worked. Compensable time of rest periods may not be offset against other working time such as compensable waiting time or on-call time.

Employers are required to provide a reasonable amount of break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for one (1) year after the child's birth each time such employee has need to express the milk. Employers are also required to provide "a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.

6. Meal Periods:

a. Bona fide meal periods are not work time as long as:

1) The employee is completely relieved from duty (uninterrupted). The employee is not relieved if he or she is required to perform any duties, active or inactive (subject to interruption);

2) The period is long enough to allow the employee to use it for eating a meal. Thirty minutes is long enough to qualify as a bona fide meal period; and

Interpretive Bulletin Fair Labor Standards Act EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2000; LATEST REVISION: January 1, 2020

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3) The period occurs at a scheduled hour or within a specified period at a time of day suitable for a normal meal period.

b. Bona fide meal periods do not include coffee breaks or time for snacks.

1) These are rest periods. The employee must be completely relieved from duty for the purposes of eating regular meals.

2) Ordinarily, thirty (30) minutes or more is long enough for a bona fide meal period. A shorter period may be long enough under special conditions.

3) The employee is not relieved if he or she is required to perform any duties, whether active or inactive, while eating. For example, an office employee who is required to eat at his desk or a factory worker who is required to be at his machine is working while eating.

4) It is not necessary that an employee be permitted to leave the premises if he or she is otherwise completely freed from duties during the meal period. Unless an agency advises employees that meal periods are subject to interruption, paid meal periods are not authorized.

7. Sleeping Time: An employee who is required to be on duty for less than twenty-four (24) hours is considered working even though they are permitted to sleep or take part in other personal activities when not busy. An employee required to be on duty for twenty-four (24) hours or more may agree with the employer to exclude from hours worked bona fide regularly scheduled sleeping periods of not more than eight (8) hours, provided adequate sleeping facilities are provided by the employer and the employee can usually enjoy an uninterrupted night's sleep. No reduction is allowed unless at least five (5) hours of sleep is taken.

8. Travel Time:

a. The Portal-to-Portal Act (29 U.S.C. ?254(a)(1) specifically excludes from compensation time spent "walking, riding or traveling to and from the actual place of performance of the principal activity" of an employee and time spent in "activities which are preliminary or postliminary" to the principal activity. Travel time at the beginning or end of the workday, therefore, is not compensable. Note, however, that under the Portal-to-Portal Act, an employer must compensate employees for such time if agreed to in a contract or collective bargaining agreement, or if it is customary to do so.

b. Excluding normal commuting time, the general rule is that employees should be compensated for all travel unless it is overnight, outside of regular working hours, on a common carrier, where no work is done.

Interpretive Bulletin Fair Labor Standards Act EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2000; LATEST REVISION: January 1, 2020

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c. Travel as a passenger outside of normal work hours is, generally, not working time. Of course, special rules can apply to special situations. Travel during normal working hours is considered as work time.

9. Training Programs, Lectures, and Meetings: The compensability of employee time spent in training programs, lectures, labor-management committee meetings, and safety meetings is addressed in the regulations (29 C.F.R. ?785.27, ?785.28, and ?785.29). All of the following four general principles must be met for the activity not to be counted as working time:

a. Attendance must occur outside the employee's regular working hours; and

b. Attendance is in fact voluntary; and

c. The employee must do no productive work while attending; and

d. The program, lecture, or meeting should not be directly related to the employee's job if it aids the employee in handling his or her present job better, as distinguished from teaching the employee another job or a new or additional job skill.

10. The Equal Pay Act (EPA) was enacted in 1963 as an amendment to the FLSA. The EPA prohibits discrimination between employees on the basis of sex regarding the compensation received by employees within an establishment for work performed under similar working conditions that requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility.

11. Child Labor: The FLSA contains provisions regulating child labor that prescribe both minimum wages and maximum hours to be worked. Lower minimum wages for workers are permitted in certain occupations.

12. Unauthorized Work: Employees who, with the knowledge or acquiescence of their employer, continue to work after their shift is over, albeit voluntarily, are engaged in compensable working time. The reason for the work is immaterial; as long as the employer "suffers or permits" employees to work on its behalf, proper compensation must be paid. Employees who work unauthorized overtime may be subject to disciplinary action.

IV. REFERENCE: 29 U.S.C. 201-219.

V. EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2000 (This effective date refers to the original Policy DOP-P20, Fair Labor Standards Act for Public Employees).

Interpretive Bulletin Fair Labor Standards Act EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2000; LATEST REVISION: January 1, 2020

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VI. REVISIONS: A. Previous Revision: December 1, 2011. B. Latest Revision: January 1, 2020.

VII. BULLETIN NUMBER: DOP-B5.

Approved and Issued By:

_________________________________________ Sheryl R. Webb, Director of DOP Date Signed: 01/01/2020

Interpretive Bulletin Fair Labor Standards Act EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2000; LATEST REVISION: January 1, 2020

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FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT EXEMPTIONS

Section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA provides an exemption from both minimum wage and overtime pay. To qualify for exemption, employees generally must meet certain tests regarding their job duties and be paid on a salary basis at not less than $684 per week. In order for an exemption to apply, an employee's specific job duties and salary must meet all the requirements of the DOL's regulations. Job titles do not determine exempt status.

Employers may use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments (including commissions) paid on an annual or more frequent basis, to satisfy up to 10 percent of the standard salary level.

Employees can be classified as exempt under one or more of the following exemption categories: Executive; Administrative; Professional; Computer-Related; Outside Sales; and, Highly Compensated.

EXECUTIVE EMPLOYEES

To qualify for the executive employee exemption, all of the following tests must be met:

? The employee must be compensated on a salary basis (as defined in the regulations) at a rate not less than $684 per week;

? The employee's primary duty must be the managing of the enterprise, or managing a customarily recognized department or subdivision of the enterprise;

? The employee must customarily and regularly direct the work of at least two or more other fulltime employees or their equivalent, and

? The employee must have the authority to hire and fire other employees, or the employee's suggestions and recommendations as to the hiring, firing, advancement, promotion or any other change of status of other employees must be given particular weight.

NOTE: Under a special rule for business owners, an employee who owns at least a bona fide 20-percent equity interest in the enterprise in which employed, regardless of the type of business organization (e.g., corporation, partnership, or other), and who is actively engaged in its management, is considered a bona fide exempt executive.

Interpretive Bulletin Fair Labor Standards Act EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2000; LATEST REVISION: January 1, 2020

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