subject: Employee Time Clocks To Ensure Compliance Of Flsa & Labor Laws [print this page] According to conservative estimates, there has not been a significant increase in average pay for non-exempt employees since 2008. Besides this fact, an increasing number of employees have been laid off by businesses struggling due to an economy that has been in and out of recession. As a result of these two statistics, employees have become more conscious of their wages and earned overtime pay, which in turn has led to a record number of FLSA (Fair Labor Standard Act) violation claims this year.
What are FLSA Requirements?
Every employer is bound by federal law to pay minimum wage to its non-exempt employees, as well as time and a half as overtime compensation for hours worked in excess of 40 hours/week. Employers are also required to maintain detailed time and attendance records of non-exempt, salaried, and hourly employees. Small businesses have been using manual time clocks for recording employee work hours for a long time. However, these card punching clocks are proving to be useless when it comes to resolving disputes over wages and overtime claims. They also do a poor job of implementing strict time and attendance policies for companies concerned about employee time theft.
On the other hand, an automated employee time clock offers much better reporting options that help small businesses not only comply with labor laws, but also implement a more streamlined payroll system.
Maintaining Payroll Records
Federal and state labor laws make it mandatory for every organization to maintain wage and hour records for their non-exempt employees. These records can be kept in any form such as time cards, paper time sheets, or digitally-recorded reports created by electronic time clocks. All time records should include information such as the total hours worked each day by an employee, as well as paid sick leaves, vacations, and other wage-related details. Different states may have different requirements in this regard, so employers must stay on top of their states mandated requirements.
Accuracy of Time and Attendance Records
Employers arent entirely safe simply maintaining employee work records. They also need to store them appropriately for access and retrieval. For example, at some point, an employer might be asked to prove the accuracy of their records in the case of a dispute or a wage fraud claim. By implementing an employee time clock with biometric features and time keeping software, employers can be sure of the integrity of their data. This not only helps when it comes to overtime and wage disputes, but also helps enforce time and attendance policies to achieve accurate, to-the-minute payroll.
Time and attendance software generates detailed and thorough work hour reports that list all necessary payroll information to protect your company from FLSA violation claims. If your business currently uses a manual time keeping method, you may not be adequately maintaining records that will hold up in litigation. Automated employee time management solutions ensure FLSA and labor law compliance with highly-detailed digital records of your employees time and attendance.
Of course, for any small or medium-size business, whether you have an automated time clock or not, it is always beneficial to perform periodic audits of payroll records, as well as review payroll policies and practices, to ensure compliance.
