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8-C | WHAT ARE AN EMPLOYER’S STATUTORY OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE FLSA?
An employer’s statutory obligations include:
1) Payment of the minimum wage (currently $5.15/was .25 when FLSA initially passed in 1938). In addition to actual wages, the reasonable cost or fair value of board, lodging or other “facilities” that are customarily furnished by the employer may be credited toward the minimum wage. (The FLSA makes it possible, subject to certain conditions, to employ learners, apprentices, messengers, and handicapped workers at sub minimum wage rates. In addition, persons aged 16-19 may be employed at a sub minimum training wage, subject to certain conditions) (Additionally, volunteers are not covered by the FLSA. The Supreme Court has held that volunteer means “an individual, who, without promise or expectation of compensation, but solely for his personal purpose or pleasure, worked in activities carried on by other persons either for their pleasure or profit.” Tony & Susan Alamo Foundation v. Secretary of Labor, 471 U.S. 290, 295 (1985)).
2) Payment for hours worked/includes all the time employee is required to be on duty or on the employer’s premises or at a prescribed work place and all time he/she is “suffered” or “permitted to work” for employer.
3) Payment of time-and-a-half for overtime/ one and one-half times regular hourly wage for hours worked beyond standard 40 hour workweek.17
4) Maintenance of required records.18
American Bar Association // Section of Labor and Employment Law
Equal Employment Opportunity Committee // EEO Law Basics // Spring 2006
Footnotes
17 The minimum wage and overtime provisions of the FLSA apply on a normal workweek basis. The normal workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It may begin on any day of the week and at any time of the day. An employer may change the beginning day of the workweek only if the change is intended to be permanent and is not made to evade the statutory overtime pay requirements.
18 There are numerous and detailed requirements for maintaining employee records. The employer is responsible for determining the hours worked and paying the required wages. Failure to keep records or keeping inaccurate, uncertain records result in a presumption in favor of the employee. Failure to keep such records may also result in criminal penalties.
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