The Fair Labor Standard Act or FLSA mandates that employees who work more than 40 hours in one week must be paid overtime. Overtime pay is computed at 1.5 times the worker’s average hourly pay and is calculated per payroll week. The federal law also governs how
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An Illinois employer asks, “If I employee a bike messenger to make deliveries to clients, do I have to pay the messenger for the time he waits between deliveries?” The answer depends on the schedule requirements imposed by the employer. If Zac is required to be at
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Delaware and Connecticut provide a 30-minute meal break for employees working shifts of 7.5 or more consecutive hours. In these two states, the meal break must be taken after first two hours of the shift and before the last two hours of the shift. Most employees assume
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Child labor problems are usually considered a problem in other countries, but a recent investigation revealed a major problem with child labor in the United States, including in Delaware. Children in the United States are protected under the federal FLSA or Fair Labor Standards Act, which prohibits
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Several Maryland employees have asked, “Why do employees in some industries get more paid holidays than workers in other industries?” The answer is because providing paid holidays is completely at the discretion of the individual employer. There is no Maryland law or federal law that requires employers
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Mark, an hourly employee in Iowa, recently accepted a new job with an employer who allowed him to take unpaid leave for a trip that he had planned many months ago. Mark wonders if he can work extra hours the week before the trip and the week after the
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A Kentucky employee asks, “If I stay late to finish a report the boss has been pressuring me to complete, will I be paid for the extra hours even if I wasn’t granted permission for overtime?” The answer for all hourly employees is, “Absolutely!” The
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There are nineteen states in the US including California, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky and Connecticut that have enacted laws at the state level requiring meal breaks for employees. Illinois requires a meal break for employees who work a shift of 7.5 hours of more. Normally this meal break
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According to the federal FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act), children under the age of 12 are not permitted to work in any Michigan industry or capacity, including agriculture. There are some loopholes in this law, however, that permit some exceptions. An example is farming, where the child works for
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A New Mexico employer asks, “If I schedule employees to work on a holiday, am I required to pay them overtime or holiday pay?” The answer is no. New Mexico employers are not required by state or federal law to pay employees extra pay for
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The proper use of “comp time” (paid time off in a future payroll week as a substitute for paid overtime) is often the subject of confusion. It is not legal for a business in the U.S. to grant “comp time” instead of paying overtime. For example, Tom
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Though it seems self-explanatory, some Nebraska employers and employees are wondering exactly what constitutes “time worked”. The definition is crucial, because Nebraska and federal minimum wage laws require employers to pay employees for all time worked. Under law, employers must pay workers for any time they must wait for
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Kentucky employees wonder if their state has a law that mandates meal breaks. The answer is yes. Kentucky is one of nineteen states that enacted meal break laws. Among the nineteen states with mandated meal breaks are Illinois, Connecticut, Delaware and Kentucky. Kentucky defines a
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When someone mentions child labor, the average person imagines a sweatshop in another country. Children in America are protected by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act or FLSA, which prohibits children under the age of 12 in South Carolina from working in any capacity, including agriculture. There
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Many Illinois employees have questions about taking family leave on an intermittent basis, but there is no law that an employer must permit this. Many new mothers want to take a few weeks off work and then return to work part-time under FMLA. However, the FMLA
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There is no Georgia law that requires an employer to pay workers for unused vacation at termination. A number of U.S. states have such laws, but Georgia does not. Some Georgia employers pay workers for unused vacation at termination, but there is no law that every employer
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While Arizona does not have a paternity leave law at the state level, many fathers are entitled to unpaid leave under the federal FMLA, the Family and Medical Leave Act. The FMLA allows employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month
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There is no law that an Alabama employer must offer paid vacations to workers. This is entirely a matter of company policy. In fact, there is no law that an employer must offer even unpaid vacations (or time off) to employees. If an employer offers paid vacations
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There is no federal law that requires most Florida small business owners to grant paid or unpaid maternity leave to employees. The primary law used for maternity leave in the U.S. is the federal FMLA, the Family and Medical Leave Act. However, the FMLA applies only to
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Many Indiana exempt employees wonder if they are automatically entitled to comp time when they work more than 40 hours in the payroll week. The answer is “no.” Under both federal and Indiana law, an exempt employee can be required to work more than 40 hours per
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