Benefits, Wages and Hours: FAQs

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These days, most of us spend at least half of our waking hours working. Ideally, this time will be spent on jobs that are fulfilling. But whether or not we enjoy our work, the bottom line for almost all of us is to be paid fairly and on time. Fortunately, both state and federal laws protect this right.

My paystub and my own records of the hours worked and the pay to which I'm entitled are quite different. What should I do?

Many employers either become confused by the nuances and exceptions in the wage and hour law (the Fair Labor Standards Act)-or they bend the rules to suit their own pocketbooks. Whatever the cause, you would do well to doublecheck your employer's math. A few simple rules distilled from the law may help.

• Hourly. Hourly employees must be paid at least the minimum wage for all hours worked. Your employer cannot take an average-or pay you less than minimum wage for some hours worked and more for others.
• Fixed rate or salary. Employees paid at a fixed rate can check their wages by dividing the amount they are paid in a pay period by the number of hours worked. The resulting average must be at least the minimum wage.
• Commissions and piece rates. Your total pay divided by the number of hours you worked must average at least the minimum hourly wage rate.

I put in more than forty hours on the job each week, without overtime pay. Am I entitled to time off to compensate for this?

Even then, comp time may be awarded only:

• according to the terms of an agreement arranged by union representatives, or
• if the employer and employee agree to the arrangement before work begins.

Some states do allow private employers to give employees comp time instead of cash. But there are complex, often conflicting laws controlling how and when it may be given. A common control, for example, is that employees must voluntarily request in writing that comp time be given instead of overtime pay-before the extra hours are worked. Check with your state's labor department for special laws on comp time in your area.

Many employers and employees routinely violate the rules governing the use of compensatory time in place of cash overtime wages. However, such violations are risky. Employees can find themselves unable to collect money due them if a company goes out of business or they are fired. And employers can end up owing large amounts of overtime pay to employees as the result of a labor department prosecution of compensatory time violations.

I work as a waitress and make good tips. But my boss says that because I get this extra money at work, I can be paid lower than the hourly minimum wage. Is this true?

But the matter of minimum wage becomes trickier when an employee routinely receives at least $30 per month in tips. Employers are allowed to credit half of those tips against the minimum wage requirement-that is, they can credit up to $2.12 an hour of the tips received toward their wage obligation and actually pay you only $2.13 an hour. However, the employer's offset must not exceed the tips the employee actually receives.

I am required to carry a beeper 24 hours a day, every day of the week for my job. I am occasionally called on my vacation, holidays and other days off. Am I entitled to be paid anything for on-call time?

• On-call time that you control and use for your own enjoyment or benefit is not counted as payable time.
• On-call time over which you have little or no control and which you cannot use for your own enjoyment or benefit is payable time.

What laws ensure my right to take vacations?

And just as vacation benefits are discretionary with each employer, so is the policy of how and when they accrue. For example, it is perfectly legal for an employer to require a certain length of employment--six months or a year are common--before an employee is entitled to any vacation time. It is also legal for employers to prorate vacations for part-time employees, or to deny them the benefit completely. Employers are also free to set limits on how much paid time off employees may store up before it must be lost or taken.

If your employer does have a policy of offering employees paid time off, however, it cannot discriminate in offering it; all employees must be subject to the same rules.

More information about wages, hours and time off

• You can check into your employer's wage and payment policies by calling the local U.S. Labor Department, Wage and Hour Division office, listed in the federal government section of your telephone directory.
• Most of the exemptions to FLSA coverage are listed in federal statute, 29 U.S.C. §213. The most direct way to become familiar with these exemptions is to read about them in an annotated edition of the U.S. Code, which is what your local law library (or even a large public library) is most likely to have.
• The United States Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20210, (202) 219-7316, offers pamphlets describing federal wage and hours laws and the Family Medical Leave Act.