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U.S. Department of Labor Employment Standards Administration
Wage & Hour Division
210 Walnut Street, Room 643
Des Moines, IA 50309
Telephone: (515) 284 - 4625
Dear County Government Employer:
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) is responsible for administering and enforcing some of our nation’s most comprehensive labor laws, including the minimum wage, overtime, record keeping, and child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Division strives to maintain a vigorous, uniform, and balanced program that includes enforcement and compliance assistance components. As part of our compliance assistance program, this County Government Employer’s Interactive Compliance Assistance Tutorial was designed as a tool to assist you in determining your agency’s compliance with the FLSA.
This tutorial can assist you in achieving and maintaining compliance with the FLSA. It is not designed nor intended for submission to the WHD. While this tutorial is intended for your internal use, a WHD Investigator is available to assist you in using the tutorial. If you have questions concerning the tutorial or the application of the FLSA or other laws enforced by this agency, please contact our office at 515-284-4625. A compliance assistance inquiry will not trigger an investigation or other review. Compliance assistance inquiries, however, do not protect you from an investigation that is the result of ordinary agency operations.
Thank you for taking the time to review your employment practices with respect to the FLSA. Our goal is to work in partnership with county officials to enhance the county’s compliance with the provisions of the FLSA.
Sincerely,
Percella Maupins
District Director
The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) is providing this Interactive Compliance Assistance Tutorial as a public service. The information contained in the tutorial is intended as general information only and does not carry the force of legal opinion. The Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Department of Labor. There are some specific rules pertaining to only public agency employees, especially for employees engaged in law enforcement or fire protection activities. In addition, information contained in this tutorial does not cover every possible situation. If you have any questions about the information provided, the application of the FLSA to issues that are not addressed here or if you need information on other laws enforced by the agency, please call the toll-free helpline at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243) or contact your local WHD District Office directly.
The six part tutorial was designed as an interactive compliance assistance tool with numerous links to regulatory and informational materials located on the Internet. Therefore, it is recommended that you view this information with your Internet browser open.
Section One: Electronic Information Packet
Section
Two: Record Keeping Requirements
Section
Three: Minimum Wage
Section
Four: Overtime
Section
Five: Exemptions
Section
Six: Youth Employment
You may review the following resources as needed for general information about the laws enforced by the WHD. Additional regulatory cites and fact sheets will be provided as appropriate with each section of the tutorial.
WHD Home Page – The WHD Home Page
contains links to Regulations, Fact Sheets, Opinion Letters, the Field
Operations Handbook and numerous other resources to help you achieve and
maintain compliance with the FLSA and other WHD laws.
Basic Information – This Fact Sheet contains general information about some of the laws administered by the WHD, as well as a list of additional resources and WHD contact information.
YouthRules! –YouthRules! is a gateway to information on Federal and State labor laws that apply to young workers. The site includes information designed to educate teens, parents, educators, and employers about the hours youth can work, the jobs youth can do, and how to prevent workplace injuries to minors.
elaws FLSA Advisor – Employment Laws Assistance for Workers and Small Businesses (elaws) Advisors are Web-based interactive tools that mimic the interaction an individual would have with a DOL employment law expert. The FLSA Advisor provides employers and employees with the information they need to understand Federal minimum wage, overtime, youth employment, and recordkeeping requirements.
State Labor Laws – This web site contains links to State web sites which provide information about State labor standards.
Fact Sheet
#7: State and Local Governments Under the FLSA
This Fact Sheet provides general information concerning the application
of the FLSA to state and local governments.
It also provides information on the special exemptions for employees
engaged in Fire Protection and Law Enforcement Activities.
Employers are required to maintain records containing certain identification, payroll, and hours worked information for all employees who are not exempt from the minimum wage and overtime standards. A review of the hours worked and payroll records may reveal potential violations of the minimum wage and/or overtime standards.
A review of payroll records alone may not be adequate to fully determine compliance with the FLSA provisions. For example, payroll and hours worked records will not reflect time an employee worked "off the clock", during meals, or before or after their shift. A discussion with employees regarding the accuracy of their hours worked records may be necessary to disclose undocumented hours of work. An optional sample interview form is provided with suggested questions that may reveal these types of unreported hours of work. In choosing employees to interview, it is recommended that you select a random sample of employees from all departments or types of employment within your agency. Select and print the Questions. The Sample Questions do not cover all possible employment situations. If you would like to discuss these or other potential questions relevant to the application of the FLSA to your agency, please contact the local Wage and Hour Division District Office.
For additional information on what constitutes hours of work, see Fact Sheet #22: Hours Worked Under the FLSA; the regulations at 29 C.F.R. 785; and the elaws Hours Worked Advisor.
See Fact Sheet #21: Record Keeping Requirements Under the FLSA and the regulations at 29 C.F.R. 516 for more information on the recordkeeping requirements of the FLSA.
The FLSA does not require that covered, non-exempt employees be paid an hourly rate. They may be paid hourly, salary, piece rate, shift rate, or by some other method of pay as long as the pay received satisfies the minimum wage and overtime standards for all hours worked. For additional information about the Minimum Wage requirements, see Questions and Answers About the Minimum Wage.
Additionally, many states have established minimum wage requirements. Where an employee is subject to both the
state and federal minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to the higher of
the two. See Minimum Wage Laws in the
States.
Unless specifically exempted, employees covered by the FLSA must receive overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rate of pay. In general, the employer must total all the hours worked by the employee for that workweek (even though two or more unrelated job assignments may have been performed) and pay overtime compensation for each hour worked in excess of the overtime standard.
Covered, nonexempt employees must be paid at least time-and-one-half their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The regular rate on which overtime pay is calculated cannot be less than the federal minimum wage and includes all an employee’s pay for employment, except certain payments excluded by the FLSA. It includes such types of compensation as education, retention, or production bonuses and shift differentials. Payments which are not part of the regular rate include:
- reimbursement for expenses incurred on the employer’s behalf, (See 29 C.F.R. 778.217)
- premium payments for hours worked in excess of eight in a day or 40 in the week, (See 29 C.F.R. 778.202)
- extra compensation paid at a premium rate of at least one-and-one-half times the regular rate for work on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, or outside of hours established by an employment contract or agreement as the “normal” workday or workweek, (See 29 C.F.R. 778.203-.206)
- discretionary bonuses, gifts and payments in the nature of gifts on special occasions, (See 29 C.F.R. 778.211-.212) and
- payments for occasional periods when no work is performed due to vacation, holidays, or illness. (See 29 C.F.R. 778.218-.219)
State or local government employees who, solely at their own option, occasionally or sporadically work on a part-time basis for the same public agency in a different capacity than the one in which they are normally employed may not be required to have their hours worked at the different jobs combined for determining overtime compensation due. See the regulations at 29 C.F.R. 553.30.
Under certain prescribed conditions, employees of State or local government agencies may receive compensatory time off (comp time) at a rate of not less than one and one-half hours for each overtime hour worked, instead of cash overtime pay. Among other things, the regulations governing the use of comp time impose limitations on the accrual of comp time, conditions regarding the use of comp time, and requirements for “pay outs” of unused comp time. Police and fire fighters, emergency response personnel, and employees engaged in seasonal activities may accrue up to 480 hours of comp time; all others may accrue up to 240 hours.
Additionally, a special exemption applies to Fire and Police Departments that allows them to pay overtime on a work period basis, rather than after 40 hours in a workweek. These agencies may establish a work period ranging from 7 to 28 days in which overtime need be paid only after a specified number of hours in each work period.
For more information on these topics, see:
29 C.F. R. 778 Overtime Compensation,
29 C.F.R. 553 Application of the FLSA to Employees of State and Local Governments
Fact Sheet #7: State and Local Governments Under the FLSA, and
Fact Sheet #8: Police and Fire Fighters under the FLSA for more information.
You may also wish to review the following examples of proper overtime calculations for various types of pay that affect overtime compensation:
Example #1 - Bonus paid and earned during the pay period
Example #2 - Bonus earned over a series of pay periods
Example #3 - Shift differentials
Example #4 - Multiple rates of pay
Example #5 - Salary paid to a non-exempt employee
Exempt employees are those for whom the minimum wage and/or overtime pay protections of the FLSA do not apply. You may want to review a list of some commonly used exemptions before continuing.
Additionally, in some situations employees paid a guaranteed salary who perform certain duties may be exempt under the “white collar” regulations. You may wish to review the information contained in the Fair Pay web site for these exemptions. See, also, the “white collar” regulations at 29 C.F.R. 541 and Fact Sheet 17A: Fair Pay Fact Sheet by Exemption under the FLSA. This Fact Sheet provides an overview of the Executive, Administrative, Professional, and Computer exemptions.
The basic minimum age for employment in nonagricultural, non-hazardous occupations is 16. Youths 16 and older may be employed in any occupation other than those declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor. The Secretary has issued 17 Hazardous Occupations Orders (HOs) for jobs found to be particularly hazardous for 16 and 17-year-olds or detrimental to their health and well-being. Youths age 16 and older may be employed to work any hours.
Youths 14 and 15 years of age may be employed to work in a variety of non-manufacturing, non-hazardous jobs for limited periods of time outside of school hours and under certain, specified conditions. Employment of minors under the age of 16 is subject to the provisions of Child Labor Regulation No. 3 (Reg 3). This regulation contains special rules permitting the employment of youths as young as 14 and 15 years of age in retail, food service and gasoline service establishments. Reg. 3 also prohibits the employment of youths 14 and 15 in any of the 17 HOs. Youths 14 or 15 years of age may work for county governments, although not technically retail, food service, or gasoline service establishments, as long as that employment falls within occupations authorized by Reg. 3 and does not involve any of the prohibited tasks or occupations. The restrictions on hours of work for 14/15-year old employees under Reg. 3 are fully applicable to the employment of these minors.
You may wish to interview your minor employees to determine if actual work duties are in compliance with the child labor standards. You may use the optional Employee Interview Sample Questions - Youth Employment as a guide. Page one of the Sample Questions is applicable to 14 and 15-year old employees; page two applies to employees age 14-17. The Sample Questions focus on those particular occupations where common violations of the child labor provisions have been found in employment of the type typical by county governments. They do not encompass all possible occupations and restrictions of these provisions. If your agency employs youths under the age of 18 in any occupation not identified in the Sample Questions, you may need to ask additional questions to determine compliance in those areas. You may contact the local Wage and Hour District Office to discuss specific occupations or other areas of these provisions not specifically addressed.
If any 14 or 15-year old employees answered yes to the questions in the Hours and Time section of the Youth Employment Sample Questions, you may wish to review the hours worked in each calendar week for other 14 and 15-year old employees to determine compliance with the Reg 3 hours and time standards.
For more information on Youth Employment requirements, see our Youth Rules! web site, and Fact Sheet # 43: Youth Employment Provisions of the FLSA for Nonagricultural Occupations.
You may also wish to review the requirements of your state youth employment rules or contact your state labor office for more information regarding state laws applicable to the employment of minors.