Make Sure To Report All Work From Home Hours
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, an employer is required to pay its hourly employees for all hours worked, including work not requested but suffered or permitted, including work performed at home. In response to COVID-19 many more employees are now engaging in telework or remote work arrangements. Thus, the Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division has issued a new Field Assistance Bulletin emphasizing employers' obligations to pay employees for all hours worked.
The Bulletin is available here: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/legacy/files/fab_2020_5.pdf
If the employer knows or has reason to believe that work is being performed, the time must be counted as hours worked. An employer may have actual or constructive knowledge of additional unscheduled hours worked by their employees.
Not Getting Paid for Hours Worked is Illegal
Employers are required to exercise reasonable diligence to determine if employees are working unscheduled hours. One way an employer may exercise such diligence is by providing a reasonable reporting procedure for nonscheduled time and then compensating employees for all reported hours of work, even hours not requested by the employer. The employer cannot implicitly or overtly discourage or impede accurate reporting, and the employer must compensate employees for all reported hours of work.
However, if an employee fails to report unscheduled hours worked through such a procedure, the employer is generally not required to investigate further to uncover unreported hours.
Thus, employees need to make sure that they are reporting all of their hours worked from home to ensure that they are receiving the full pay that they are legally entitled to receive.
If you have questions about your compensation or ensuring you are paid properly, please contact Kwall Barack Nadeau.