Which Travel and Training Time Is Paid? The DOL Fact Sheet 22 Rules for Employers
Under DOL Fact Sheet 22, the ordinary commute is unpaid, but job-site, overnight and most training time are hours worked — and count toward US FLSA overtime.
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Day Rates Do Not Erase Overtime: How to Compute Time-and-a-Half for Day-Rate and Piece-Rate Workers
Under the FLSA, day-rate and piece-rate workers still earn overtime: divide weekly pay by hours worked, then add a half-time premium for each hour over 40.
Do You Owe Every Employee a Day of Rest? One-Day-in-Seven Laws in California, New York, and Illinois
California, New York, and Illinois each mandate a weekly day of rest — measured three different ways, with per-employee penalties for every week you miss.
Reporting-Time Pay, Explained: The "Show-Up Pay" Rules That Kick In Every Time You Send a Scheduled Employee Home Early
No federal law requires show-up pay, but eight US states plus DC do — California owes half the shift (2–4 hours) when you send scheduled staff home early.
The Fluctuating Workweek Overtime Method: Pay Half-Time Instead of Time-and-a-Half
Under 29 CFR 778.114, a fixed salary can compensate all hours worked, so overtime costs only a half-time premium — $80 instead of $300 on a 50-hour week at an $800 salary. This guide covers the math, the five conditions, the 2020 rule on bonuses, and the state-law bans in Alaska, California, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania.
Blended Overtime for Dual-Rate Employees: How the Weighted-Average Regular Rate Works
Under the FLSA, an employee who works two hourly rates in one workweek earns overtime on the weighted average of those rates, not either rate alone — and because straight time is already paid, only the half-time premium is still owed. A worked example (45 hours at $20 and $30 gives a $23.33 regular rate and $58.33 in premium pay), the five errors that trigger back-wage claims, and the records that prove your math.
After-Hours Texts and Calls Count as Paid Time: An FLSA Overtime Guide for Small Employers
Under the FLSA's suffered-or-permitted standard (29 CFR 785.11), a nonexempt employee's four-minute reply to a 9 p.m. text is compensable work if you knew or had reason to know it happened, and the de minimis rule in 29 CFR 785.47 rarely covers timestamped, recurring message time. This guide covers exempt-vs-nonexempt classification at the $684-per-week salary floor, the four timekeeping setups that manufacture violations, the two-to-three-year lookback with doubled liquidated damages, and a five-habit compliance playbook for small employers.
Do You Owe Wages for the Hours Your Employee Spent Sleeping? FLSA Sleep-Time Rules for 24-Hour Shifts and Live-In Workers
Federal law lets employers exclude up to eight hours of sleep time from a shift of 24 hours or more — never from a shorter one — and only with adequate sleeping quarters, usually uninterrupted sleep, and an agreement. Every interruption is paid, and fewer than five consecutive hours of sleep makes the entire window compensable.
Daylight Saving Time Ends November 1: Why Your Overnight Shift Is Nine Hours, Not Eight
When clocks fall back at 2:00 a.m. on November 1, 2026, a scheduled eight-hour overnight shift becomes nine paid hours under the FLSA — and that ninth hour counts toward the 40-hour overtime threshold. Spring forward is not the mirror image: the hour never worked may be paid voluntarily but is excluded from the regular rate and cannot offset real overtime.
On-Call Pay Under the FLSA: When Your Standby Hours Count as Paid Work Time
Under the FLSA, on-call hours are paid when employer restrictions keep an employee from using the time freely — the "engaged to wait" test. This guide covers the control factors investigators weigh, sleep-time rules for 24-hour shifts, how flat on-call stipends raise the overtime regular rate, and state rules like California reporting-time pay and city predictive-scheduling ordinances.
When Does a Commute Become Paid Time? DOL Opinion Letter FLSA2026-10 and Your Field Payroll
DOL Opinion Letter FLSA2026-10 (July 22, 2026) holds that a field engineer's morning calls to schedule customer appointments are integral and indispensable work, which starts the continuous workday and makes the drive to the first job site compensable. Passively receiving dispatch messages is not. Here is how to classify each step of the morning routine, fix mobile timekeeping, and book the reclassified hours.
Overtime Rule in 2026: The $58,656 Salary Threshold Stay, Duties Test, and the Compliance Checklist for Reclassifying Exempt Employees
The $58,656 threshold was vacated — $35,568 is the enforceable level — but salary is only a third of exemption; duties decide the rest, and reclassification lives or dies on time records and the regular rate.