HELP!!! We are trying to determine how to track unpaid hours in PT 9.0 on
our time tickets. For example, an employee works 9 hours per day but wants
to save 1 hours towards future paid time off. We need to track these hours
but everything I have tried to set up insists on paying the employee for
that 1 hour. Please reply with any suggestions. Thanks,
Lynne Humphrey
27
Jan
Tracking unpaid hours on PT time tickets
posted by admin in Uncategorized and have Comments (7)
7 Responses to “Tracking unpaid hours on PT time tickets”
Lynne –
About the only thing I can think of is to set up a memo field on the
deductions side – then whenever an employee decides to defer hours for a
later pay period, enter the hours they are actually getting paid for, then
enter the deferred hours in the memo field. The memo field will appear on
check stubs and payroll reports, indicating how many hours are available for
use. Then when they use their deferred hours, enter a negative number in
the memo field to reflect the hours used . . .
HTH
Chad
"Lynne Humphrey" <lhumph…@scottrotaryseals.com> wrote in message
news:LWBY8.149$Av3.118460@newsfeed.slurp.net…
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> HELP!!! We are trying to determine how to track unpaid hours in PT 9.0 on
> our time tickets. For example, an employee works 9 hours per day but
wants
> to save 1 hours towards future paid time off. We need to track these
hours
> but everything I have tried to set up insists on paying the employee for
> that 1 hour. Please reply with any suggestions. Thanks,
> Lynne Humphrey
Lynne,
You can not do this. You are asking for trouble if you get a wise
employee. What you are proposing goes against labor laws. This is called
withholding wages and is illegal. It doesn’t matter if there is a
contract or any kind of agreement in place between you and your
employees. It is still illegal. I read a story where a huge company
working with a Union had it in there agreement with the union to save
time, I believe it was overtime, to be paid quarterly. Employees liked
it because it gave them a big check 4 times a year. One employee didn’t
like this and wanted his overtime in each check. He filed a complaint
with the department of labor and took the company to court. The employee
won. The company was lucky because the court took into account that they
were working in good faith under a contract with the Union. Otherwise
the fine could have been tremendous. Basically the court ruled that
NOTHING can replace the rules set out be the Department of Labor. You
have to pay as earned.
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
Lynne Humphrey wrote:
> HELP!!! We are trying to determine how to track unpaid hours in PT 9.0 on
> our time tickets. For example, an employee works 9 hours per day but wants
> to save 1 hours towards future paid time off. We need to track these hours
> but everything I have tried to set up insists on paying the employee for
> that 1 hour. Please reply with any suggestions. Thanks,
> Lynne Humphrey
Good point, John . . .
Here a few months ago I read something that the NFIB was looking to lobby
for a bill that would let small businesses provide employees with comp time
instead of overtime . . . be interesting to see if that ever comes to be . .
.
Chad
"John" <jwilf…@cybertrails.com> wrote in message
news:3D331A44.8080200@cybertrails.com…
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
> Lynne,
> You can not do this. You are asking for trouble if you get a wise
> employee. What you are proposing goes against labor laws. This is called
> withholding wages and is illegal. It doesn’t matter if there is a
> contract or any kind of agreement in place between you and your
> employees. It is still illegal. I read a story where a huge company
> working with a Union had it in there agreement with the union to save
> time, I believe it was overtime, to be paid quarterly. Employees liked
> it because it gave them a big check 4 times a year. One employee didn’t
> like this and wanted his overtime in each check. He filed a complaint
> with the department of labor and took the company to court. The employee
> won. The company was lucky because the court took into account that they
> were working in good faith under a contract with the Union. Otherwise
> the fine could have been tremendous. Basically the court ruled that
> NOTHING can replace the rules set out be the Department of Labor. You
> have to pay as earned.
> Lynne Humphrey wrote:
> > HELP!!! We are trying to determine how to track unpaid hours in PT 9.0
on
> > our time tickets. For example, an employee works 9 hours per day but
wants
> > to save 1 hours towards future paid time off. We need to track these
hours
> > but everything I have tried to set up insists on paying the employee for
> > that 1 hour. Please reply with any suggestions. Thanks,
> > Lynne Humphrey
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) dates back to 1938 and definately
needs an overhaul. More and more companies are wanting to be more
creative with their payroll. ie Comp Time. So I’m not a bit surprised at
what the NFIB is doing.
You also have State wage statutes to worry about. In Arizona, with the
system Lynne proposes, employees could be awarded TRIPLE the amount of
the wages wrongfully withheld. Definately something to stay educated in.
Our State, and I’m sure others too, offer free seminars to educate you
in these things. If not, you can look at http://www.lorman.com and see
if they have a seminar in your area. They have many topics that are of
interest to small businesses.
John
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Chad A Gross wrote:
> Good point, John . . .
> Here a few months ago I read something that the NFIB was looking to lobby
> for a bill that would let small businesses provide employees with comp time
> instead of overtime . . . be interesting to see if that ever comes to be . .
> ..
> Chad
> "John" <jwilf…@cybertrails.com> wrote in message
> news:3D331A44.8080200@cybertrails.com…
>>Lynne,
>>You can not do this. You are asking for trouble if you get a wise
>>employee. What you are proposing goes against labor laws. This is called
>>withholding wages and is illegal. It doesn’t matter if there is a
>>contract or any kind of agreement in place between you and your
>>employees. It is still illegal. I read a story where a huge company
>>working with a Union had it in there agreement with the union to save
>>time, I believe it was overtime, to be paid quarterly. Employees liked
>>it because it gave them a big check 4 times a year. One employee didn’t
>>like this and wanted his overtime in each check. He filed a complaint
>>with the department of labor and took the company to court. The employee
>>won. The company was lucky because the court took into account that they
>>were working in good faith under a contract with the Union. Otherwise
>>the fine could have been tremendous. Basically the court ruled that
>>NOTHING can replace the rules set out be the Department of Labor. You
>>have to pay as earned.
>>Lynne Humphrey wrote:
>>>HELP!!! We are trying to determine how to track unpaid hours in PT 9.0
> on
>>>our time tickets. For example, an employee works 9 hours per day but
> wants
>>>to save 1 hours towards future paid time off. We need to track these
> hours
>>>but everything I have tried to set up insists on paying the employee for
>>>that 1 hour. Please reply with any suggestions. Thanks,
>>>Lynne Humphrey
Of course, if the employees in the original query are exempt, you can do
anything you want about their "overtime"…ignore it or compensate them in
any way you choose.
But be careful. You don’t want to jeopardize the exempt status of your
employees and you want to be darn sure they are exempt. The labor board
may say ‘It is evident by the way you reimburse this employee for
overtime that all employees in this classification are indeed non-exempt
and as such they are entitled to ….’. If this happens you may not only
owe the employee who brought up the complaint but EVERY employee that is
in the same classification!
Especially watch out for State laws. Case in point:
‘Under one state’s interpretation of FLSA, a project superintendent must
be paid overtime because he did not qualify as an exempt "administrative
employee". Although he managed day-to-day construction on projects, he
neither developed nor implemented work assignments that furthered
overall policy.’ – The General Ledger, July 2002 issue.
Other states may consider this person as exempt.
Eventually, EVERY business owner will run across the employee who will
go to the labor board at the drop of a hat. I have had this occur to me
about 7 times with two different companies. Typically an employee will
say ‘I talked to the labor board and they say I am not exempt. You owe
me $xxxx.’ I give my response why the answer they got is incorrect and
ask them to call the board back with the added information. I never hear
back from either of them. Maybe s/he thinks he should not be exempt or
maybe s/he feels his holiday pay allowance should be at time and half or
cause his/her other time to go into overtime and s/he WILL challenge you.
The business owner should be prepared. S/he should know why a holiday
allowance don’t count toward overtime. S/he should be able to directly
and authoritively give an answer why the employee is exempt and be able
justify any wage and hour practice that may seem questionable to the
employee. S/he should also be prepared if an exempt employee challenges
his classification. Track ALL hours. Whether the employee is exempt or
not. Why? Well some exempt statuses are exempt for overtime but not
minimum wage. How can you ensure proper pay is given if no hours are
tracked. In another example, let’s say you have an employee that
challenges his exempt status and wins. He is now entitled to back wages.
If you have no records the court will go with the employee records. Even
though you may be able to tell the hours the employee presents is
totally bogus you will not be able to dispute his *records* and you will
pay. Track all employees hours and have them sign each time sheet that
has a statement like "I certify that the hours reported are true and
correct". You are now protected or have at least limited your liability.
If you see someone is putting in above and beyond what his salary was
figured at go ahead and reward him if you wish. You now have something
measureable for the other employees that didn’t do as well why they
didn’t get the same.
Bottom line I do agree with Stan. Just get some advice before doing
something *strange*. I just offer these examples and experiences to help
the small business owner who may not know some of these things or maybe
never even thought of them. Hopefully it will be of value to someone out
there.
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Stan Jones wrote:
> Of course, if the employees in the original query are exempt, you can do
> anything you want about their "overtime"…ignore it or compensate them in
> any way you choose.
Chad, thanks so much for the idea of setting up a memo field. I’ll give it
a try. To everyone else, thanks for the labor law info…the policy is
currently under review by management.
Thanks again for your help.
"Lynne Humphrey" <lhumph…@scottrotaryseals.com> wrote in message
news:LWBY8.149$Av3.118460@newsfeed.slurp.net…
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
> HELP!!! We are trying to determine how to track unpaid hours in PT 9.0 on
> our time tickets. For example, an employee works 9 hours per day but
wants
> to save 1 hours towards future paid time off. We need to track these
hours
> but everything I have tried to set up insists on paying the employee for
> that 1 hour. Please reply with any suggestions. Thanks,
> Lynne Humphrey