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Q.
Over the last couple of months, we have needed nonexempt employees
to work extra overtime, sometimes as much as fifteen hours every
week.
Recently, several employees complained about these requirements, and
they say we cannot require this much overtime. Are they right?
A. If you do not have a collective
bargaining agreement or other contract with your employees that
limits the number of overtime hours employees may work, you may
require employees to work as much overtime as you need. The
Fair
Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and its regulations do not limit the
number of hours that nonexempt employees may work in any workweek
and do not prohibit employers from requiring them to work overtime.
The FLSA only requires that these employees be paid a premium wage
of one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for all hours
worked over 40 in a single workweek.
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As a general rule, states also do not place a limit on the number of
hours an employee may work (provided the employee is not a minor) or
prohibit an employer from requiring employees to work overtime
(although a few, such as Illinois, require one day of rest a week).
As under the FLSA, most states simply require employers to pay the
appropriate overtime rate for all hours worked over 40 in a single
workweek. A few, such as Colorado and Nevada, also require daily
overtime to be paid.
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While it may be lawful to require the
overtime, you should take into
consideration the hardship that it may be causing your employees.
Many employees may have outside obligations that the
overtime is
affecting, such as child care responsibilities or classes. Other
employees may just be tired of working so many hours in a week. To
help deal with these issues, some employers try creative approaches,
such as allowing workers to volunteer for overtime or rotating the
overtime so that the same employees are not having to work extra
hours every week. Other employers provide additional benefits (such
as paid meals during overtime hours or extra vacation days) or even
additional pay to show employees their appreciation. If you expect
the mandatory overtime to continue for a long period of time, you
also should consider whether it would be just as cost effective to
hire additional employees. Although new employees mean additional
benefits and payroll expenses, these costs may be less than
replacing employees who are burned out from too much overtime. |
Personnel
Policy Service, Inc.
