In the course we discuss the wage and hour laws that apply to paying employees on the federal and state level. We start with defining the crucial elements of wage and hour law including what is work week, a work day and hours worked and how the hours must be tracked or accounted for.
From this basis we first discuss not only the rules for calculating overtime but the effects that other payments have on overtime including discretionary and nondiscretionary bonuses and commissions. We then work through examples of calculating overtime correctly using both the FLSA method and the alternate (or commonly understood) method as well as what to do if the employee is working at two or more rates. We discuss the minimum wage and how it can be different on the state or the federal level and what can be used as credit against it by the employer.
But federal law does not cover all aspects of paying employees. For this we need to concentrate on state laws in the areas of paid family leave, mandatory sick leave, meal and rest periods, paystubs and notices, how often employees must be paid, acceptable methods that may be used to pay employees, and handling terminating employees including vacation payouts. We conclude with our section on what can be legally deducted from the employee’s wages.
Learning Objectives
- Discover and define the wage and hour terms work week, work day, hours worked, overtime and minimum wage.
- Explore and contrast the difference between federal and state laws and when which law take priority.
- Identify and compute overtime correctly under the FLSA when no other factors are present.
- Identify and compute overtime correctly under the FLSA when such factors as nondiscretionary bonuses, commissions, shift differential, piece work or other factors are being paid to the employee.
- Explore and explain how to track hours worked to pay the employee correctly including rounding of hours and what is considered “de minimis” timekeeping.
- Discover and calculate the weighted average of pay rates to correctly determine the overtime due to an employee who is working two or more rates in a work week.
- Explore and examine the requirements for meal and rest periods under state laws.
- Discover and discuss the requirements for how often to pay employees and by what method under state laws.
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Prerequisites
No Advanced Preparation or Prerequisites are needed for this course.