The Department of Labor (“DOL”) released an opinion letter addressing whether certain overtime payments based on an expected number of hours may be credited towards the amount of overtime pay owed under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and whether such overtime payments are excludable from the regular rate. The answer to both questions is yes.
The inquiry came from a business that provides in-home care services on a live-in basis or for shifts of 24 hours or more. The employer pays an hourly rate plus overtime based on anticipated overtime hours. The caregivers typically work five days a week for 120 or more hours. Given the nature of the caregivers’ work, the employer found it difficult to track which hours the caregivers were actually working. The employer therefore treats the employees as performing compensable work for the entire extended shift, minus 8 hours allotted for sleeping and meal breaks. If a caregiver has any work-related interruptions to meal or sleep periods, the caregiver is to track those hours and they are counted as compensable time. If a caregiver works more than anticipated, then the employer supplements the prepaid compensation at a rate of 1.5 times the caregiver’s hourly rate for each unanticipated hour of work over 40 hours.Continue Reading Pay Me Now, or Pay Me Later? Wages Paid for Anticipated Overtime are Excludable from Employees’ Regular Rate
It probably falls into the category of cult classic, but one of my favorite movies is 2000’s “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” starring George Clooney. To me, it is the Coen brothers at their finest. Loosely based on Homer’s “Odyssey,” the movie follows Everett McGill (Clooney) and his companions Delmar and Pete in 1930s Mississippi.