Chapter 2 (Wages and Salaries)

Employees of Federal Contractors Wage

$10.2 and (56 hours of paid sick leave)

Tipped Employees Wages

$2.13 ($5.13 must be matched by employer if tips don't cover it)

Waiter wages

$2.13. Maximum that employer can save is $5.12

Training Wage

$4.25, paid to workers under age 20 for up to 90 days

How long does an employee have to sue employer?

2 years for general mistakes 3 years for willful mistakes

State Laws (minimum wage)

All states except for Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee have minimum wage and overtime rules that apply both to employees covered by the FLSA and to those not covered. The FLSA requires payment of the higher wage standard if it is more than the federal $7.25 per hour. Over 100 cities have enacted local ordinances to require employers who do business with the government to pay a "living wage" to their low-wage workers. The movement, started by local advocates, grew out of the failure to keep the national minimum wage on pace with the needs of the working poor

Penalties for Child Labor Provision

Max: $12,278 no injury or death Max: $55,808 w/ injury or death

Discretionary Bonus

a bonus not agreed on, announced, or promised before payment. (EXTRA)

Fluctuating Schedule (BELO plan?)

1) (Pay rate X Maximum hours) + (ovetime hours X Rate X 0.5)

Fluctuating Schedule (Overtime Earnings?)

1) (Total PAY / Total Hours) X 0.5 "the rate" 2) Then times it by hours worked

Enterprise Coverage

1) At least 2 employees engaged in interstate commerce 2) Annual Gross Sales of $500,000 extends, without regard to annual sales volume, to those who operate: A hospital. A nursing home. An institution for the mentally ill. A school for mentally or physically handicapped or gifted children. A preschool, elementary, or secondary school. An institution of higher education. A public agency.

ABC Test: to test independent contractors

1) Free of direction and control 2) Perform services outside the usual course of the business that hired the contractor 3) Customary engages in an independent occupation

2 rates for job (3 ways)

1) Pay Higher 2) 1/2 Average: (Total for both / 2) to get rate. 3) Pay overtime by work after 40 hours

Overtime premium

1) calculate total hours X wage 2) then overtime hours X 1/2 wage

Paying Less than the Minimum Wage

1. A training wage allows employers to pay $4.25 per hour to newly hired employees under 20 years of age (opportunity wage). This only applies to the first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment. 2. Retail or service establishments and farms may employ full-time students at 85 percent of the minimum wage ($6.1625 per hour, government rounds to $6.17 in favor of the employee). 3. Institutions of higher education may employ their own full-time students at 85 percent of the minimum wage. 4. Student-learners may be employed at 75 percent of the minimum wage if they are participating in a bona fide vocational training program conducted by an accredited school ($5.44 per hour). 5. Firms whose principal business is the delivery of letters and messages may employ messengers at not less than 95 percent of the minimum wage. 6. Persons whose earning capacity is impaired by age, physical or mental deficiency, or injury may be employed at special minimum wage rates. However, a certificate authorizing employment at such rates must first be obtained from the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. FRACTIONAL PARTS OF AN HOUR An employer cannot use an arbitrary formula or an estimate as a substitute for determining precisely the compensable working time which is part of an employee's fixed or regular hours. Uncertain and indefinite working periods beyond the scheduled working hours cannot be practicably determined. Therefore, a few seconds or minutes may be disregarded. Some courts have allowed from 10 to 20 minutes to be ignored, while other courts have refused to apply the law to periods as small as 10 minutes. Generally, a few minutes of time spent by employees on the company premises for their own convenience before or after their workdays are not included in the hours worked. Employers using time clocks may round starting and stopping times of their employees to the nearest five minutes, or to the nearest six minutes (tenth of an hour), or 15 minutes (quarter of an hour). However, consistently rounding time down to the nearest five minutes or one-tenth or one-quarter of an hour would be a violation in that employees would not be properly compensated for all time worked. These rules must be administered fairly and consistently. In the case of union or other employment contracts, the method of computing regular and overtime rates may be prescribed in the contracts. ABSENCES The FLSA does not require an employer to pay an employee for hours not worked because of illness . In practice, most U.S. employers provide vacation days, sick days, and/or paid time off (PTO) days for full-time employees. Only one-third of employers offer paid leave to part-time employees. TARDINESS Frequently, when an employee is late or leaves early, the supervisor must O.K. the time card. Some companies require the employee to sign a special slip indicating the reason for being late or leaving early. Some companies keep time according to the decimal system, whereby each hour is divided into units of tens (six minutes times 10 periods in each hour). An employee who is late one through six minutes is penalized or "docked" one-tenth of an hour. One who is seven through 12 minutes late is "docked" one-fifth of an hour, etc.

Exemptions from FLSA Requirementsdc

Minimum Wage Exemption Equal-Pay Exemption Full Overtime Exemption Employee Job Description Minimum Wage Exemption Equal-Pay Exemption Full Overtime Exemption Agricultural employees. (Full Overtime Exemption) Agricultural workers who are members of the employer's immediate family. (Minimum Wage Exemption) (Equal-Pay Exemption) (Full Overtime Exemption) Air carrier employees if the carrier is subject to Title II of the Railway Labor Act. (Full Overtime Exemption) Amusement or recreational establishment employees, provided the business has seasonal peaks. (Minimum Wage Exemption) (Equal-Pay Exemption) (Full Overtime Exemption) Announcers, news editors, and chief engineers of radio or television stations in small communities. (Full Overtime Exemption) Baby sitters (casual) and companions to ill or aged persons unable to care for themselves. (Minimum Wage Exemption) (Equal-Pay Exemption) (Full Overtime Exemption) Drivers and drivers' helpers who make local deliveries and are paid on a trip-rate or similar basis following a plan approved by the government. (Full Overtime Exemption) Executive, administrative, and professional employees, including teachers and academic administrative personnel in schools. (Minimum Wage Exemption) (Full Overtime Exemption) Fruit and vegetable employees who are engaged in the local transportation of these items or of workers employed or to be employed in the harvesting of fruits or vegetables. Full Overtime Exemption) Household domestic service employees who reside in the household. (Full Overtime Exemption) Motion picture theater employees. (Full Overtime Exemption) Motor carrier employees if the carrier is subject to regulation by the secretary of transportation. (Full Overtime Exemption) Newspaper employees if the newspaper is published on a weekly, semiweekly, or daily basis and if the circulation is less than 4,000 copies, with the major circulation in the county of publication or contiguous counties. (Minimum Wage Exemption) (Equal-Pay Exemption) (Full Overtime Exemption) Railroad, express company, and water carrier employees if the companies are subject to Part I of the Interstate Commerce Act. (Full Overtime Exemption) Salespersons for automobile, truck, or farm implement dealers; parts stock clerks or mechanics; salespersons for boat, trailer, or aircraft dealers. (Full Overtime Exemption) Taxicab drivers. (Full Overtime Exemption) WHITE COLLAR WORKERS: executives, administrators, professional employees, highly compensated employees, computer professionals, and outside salespersons, from the minimum wage and overtime pay provisions if they satisfy certain tests. A) employee must be paid on a salary basis, must be paid at least $913 per week, or $47,476 annually (was set to be effective December 1, 2016), B) MUST MEET PRIMARY DUTIES: 1) Executive: Primary duty—managing, Supervises two or more employees and Authority to hire, fire, promote 2) Adminstrative: Primary duty—performs office work and Regularly uses discretion and independent judgment 3) Professional:Work requires advanced knowledge (science or learning) and Knowledge acquired by prolonged course of instruction (exempt duties cannot exceed 20 percent of their hours worked in a workweek for 1, 2 and 3. exemption is not lost if the wages are computed on an hourly, daily, or shift basis as long as the arrangement includes a guarantee of at least the minimum weekly required amount, paid on a salary basis.) 4) Business owner: Owns at least 20 percent of equity and Actively manages business operations 5) Highly Compensated: Earns $134,004Footnote or more, Performs nonmanual work, and Regularly performs one of the exempt duties of an executive, professional, or administrative employee 6) Computer Professionals: Salary of at least $913/week or $27.63/hour and Duties consist of system analysis techniques, design of computer systems or programs 7) Creative Professional: Requires invention, imagination, originality, or talent in an artisticor a creative endeavor 8) Outside Salespeople: Primary duty—makes sales or obtains orders for services or use of facilities, Regularly away from the employer's place of business and No salary test BLUE COLLAR WORKERS: No matter how highly paid, these workers are still entitled to overtime pay. This also applies to police officers, firefighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, and licensed practical nurses.

Amusement Park Workers Exempt from

Minimum wage, Equal pay and full overtime

Clothes Changing Time and Wash UP

Non Compensatory

Workweek

as a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours—seven consecutive 24-hour periods. The individual employee's workweek is the statutory or contract number of hours to be worked regularly during that period. The workweek may begin on any day of the week and need not coincide with the calendar week. An employer may establish the same workweek for the business operations as a whole or assign different workweeks to individual workers or groups of workers. An employer may change the day a workweek begins if intended to be a permanent change and not just to evade the overtime pay requirements of the FLSA. If, however, a union contract fixes the workweek, the employer's right to change the workweek depends upon the wording in the contract. Each workweek stands alone, and the overtime hours worked in one week may not be shifted to another workweek. Thus, each workweek is a separate unit for the purpose of computing overtime pay.

Biweekly vs. Semimonthly

biweekly: every other week (every 2 weeks) semimonthly: twice a month

FLSA individual coverage

covers a worker if the employee either engages in interstate commerce or produces goods for such commerce. Coverage depends on the activities of the individual employee and not on the work of fellow employees, the nature of the employer's business, or the character of the industry as a whole. Thus, even though a business does not meet the enterprise coverage test, it must pay FLSA wages to those workers eligible for individual coverage.

Overtime Hours and Overtime Pay

overtime: If they refuse, they can be fired under the law. There is also no limit on the overtime that can be required. On the other side, employees should only work overtime if authorized in advance by a supervisor and this should be a written policy. The consequences of unauthorized overtime must be communicated to all employees. Discipline for violating this policy must be administered equally, but payment must still be made for these non-approved hours. If reprimands do not work, suspension and even termination can legally result. tipped = overtime cash wages are $5.76/hour ($10.88 − $5.12).

Wage Theft

situations when employers do not pay employees in accordance with statutory or contract requirements violations such as not paying minimum or agreed-upon wages, not paying the proper overtime rates, having employees working off of the clock or under the table, or misclassifying employees as consultants remedies include assessing higher fines and penalties, prohibiting companies from receiving state contracts, denying or canceling business licenses, or criminalizing the violations PENALTIES: Violators of the wage and hour provisions of the FLSA are liable for the unpaid minimum wage and overtime requirements and could be assessed equal amounts in liquidated damages, besides reasonable attorneys' fees and court costs. Misclassified Workers: • unintentional with a filed Form 1099 (showing nonemployee compensation)—1.5 percent of wages paid + 20 percent of the employee's social security tax. • unintentional without a filed Form 1099—above penalties are doubled. • intentional—100 percent of the worker's federal income tax and social security taxes. • in addition to the above, the employer remains liable for any penalties for failure to withhold, to file returns, and to pay taxes. Wage and Hour Provisions (Willful Violations) • fines of up to $1,925. • unpaid fines can result in court-ordered imprisonment. Providing False Data • fines up to $10,000 and imprisonment up to 10 years (Federal False Information Act). Repeated Violations • fines up to $10,000 per violation resulting from a "continuous course of conduct"; second offenders can be imprisoned for up to six months. Child-Labor Provisions Violations • maximum fine of $12,278 without serious injury or death of any employee under 18 years old ($55,808 if serious injury or death occurs). • willful or repeated violations will cause a maximum penalty of $111,616. It is unlawful to discharge or discriminate against an employee because he or she has filed a wage-hour complaint. This could result in a lawsuit in which lost wages, liquidated damages, and even punitive damages are awarded.

Principal Activities

tasks employees must perform and include any work of consequence performed for the employer. Principal activities include those indispensable to the performance of productive work and those that are an integral part of a principal activity. The test of compensability with respect to principal activities requires that there be physical or mental exertion, controlled or required by the employer and performed for the employer's benefit CLOTHES CHANGING TIME AND WASH UP it may be excluded from time worked either expressly or by custom and practice under a collective bargaining contract The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that time spent donning and doffing protective gear qualified as "clothes changing" under a collective bargaining agreement between the employer and the unionized workforce, and was non-compensable. This ruling affects all employers of a unionized workforce that have uniform or other dress requirements TRAVEL TIME only if contract, custom, or practice so requires If an employee who regularly works at a fixed location is given a special one-day work assignment in another city, time worked includes the travel time. even though the hours may occur on Saturday and Sunday. WAITING TIMES: Engaged to wait: Yes Waiting to be Engaged: NO IDLE TIME: If for the benefit of employer. Not if they can do whatever they want with idle time (Carrying phones and beepers and waiting) REST PERIOD AND COFFEE BREAKS The FLSA does not require that an employer give employees a rest period or a coffee break. the union contract or municipal or state legislation may require them 20 minutes or less counts as part of the hours worked. If longer than 20 minutes, the compensability for the time depends upon the employee's freedom during that time or upon the provisions of the union contract. MEAL PERIODS are not considered working time. Lunch periods during which the employee must perform some duties while eating are not bona fide meal periods. The general rule sets a bona fide meal period at 30 minutes or longer. TAKING WORK HOME Nonexempt employees must be paid for all hours worked, even those outside the regular workplace SLEEP TIME If required to be on duty for less than 24 hours, the employee is considered to be working even though the employee is sleeping or engaging in other personal activities. If over 24 hours, an agreement to exclude a sleeping period of not more than eight hours from time worked is binding. Adequate sleeping facilities must be provided, and the employee must be permitted at least five hours of uninterrupted sleep. TRAINING SESSION Generally, working time includes the time spent by employees in attending lectures and meetings for training purposes. The working time spent by postal clerks in learning mail distribution practices and the operation of letter-sorting machines counts as compensable time because it is (a) controlled and required by the employer, (b) for the primary benefit of the employer, and (c) an integral and indispensable part of the employees' principal work activities. not be counted as working time if ALL the following conditions are met: 1. Attendance by the employee is voluntary. 2. The employee does not produce any goods or perform any other productive work during the meeting or lecture. 3. The meeting or lecture takes place outside regular working hours. 4. The meeting or lecture is not directly related to the employee's work. DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENTS Time spent waiting for and receiving medical assistance on the employer's premises or at the employer's direction during the employee's normal working hours during the workweek is considered time worked. As such, it cannot be deducted from the employee's accrued leave

Student Leaner Wage

75% of the minimum

Full Time Students Wage

85% of the minimum = $6.17 per hour

Messengers Wage

95% of the minimum

Tips (minimum wage)

A tipped employee is one who engages in an occupation in which tips of more than $30 a month are customarily and regularly received $2.13 minimum Tips received by the employee are credited toward the remainder ($5.12) In 2017, the minimum wage for tipped employees of federal contractors was set at $6.80 per hour. Through a combination of tips and wages, these tipped employees must earn at least $10.00 per hour. no credit allowed if tips are pooled or if required to turn it over to employer. alternative tip-reporting system: (at least 75 percent of the employees must sign agreements to report tips at or above the predetermined rate)

Employer

Any person action directly or indirectly in the interest of the employer

Travel Time Compensated?

Compensatory if Traveling to a specific destination

Statutory Non-Employee (2 kinds)

Direct Sellers and Real Estate Agents They are considered self employed as long as earnings are based on sales and they perform services under a written contract.

Paying More than the Minimum Wage

Employees of federal contractors must be paid at least $10.20 per hour (and be provided 56 hours of paid sick leave per year). The rate will be increased every year by the Secretary of Labor based on increases in the Consumer Price Index. Employees in states that have a higher minimum wage rate than the federal rate must be paid the higher rate.

Overtime pay

Employees who agree to work more than forty hours per week.

Common-law relationship Employer

Employer has the right to control both: 1) What work will be done 2) How it will be done

FLSA (2 base coverages)

Enterprise and Individual Employee

Baby sitters exempt from:

FLSA

Penalties for providing false data?

Fines up to $10,000 and up to 10 years (Federal False Information Act)

Penalties of the Wage and Hour Provisions?

Fines up to $1925 and unpaid lead to imprisonment

Agricultural Employees exempt from:

Full Overtime

Radio and TV Station Employees exempt from:

Full Overtime

Railway Act workers exempt from:

Full Overtime

Idle Time Compensated?

If for the benefit of employer. Not if they can do whatever they want with idle time (Carrying phones and beepers and waiting)

Records Used for Timekeeping

How the employer chooses the methods of keeping time records depends on the size of the company and whether employees are paid on an hourly, weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly basis. Employees on a salary basis usually work a given number of hours each day and can be required to record and track their hours and to work a specified schedule. Employees on an hourly wage basis may work a varying number of hours with some "down time" and layoffs and some overtime work. All of this time must be recorded in some way. TIMESHEETS provides the information required by law and the data used to compute the payroll. TIME CARDS time worked is recorded manually by the employee or automatically by a time clock Altering employees' time records may not only lead to fines and suits against the organization, but employees can also sue their managers and human resource professionals for personal liability Computerized Time and Attendance Recording Systems Card-generated systems—employees use time cards similar to the traditional time cards illustrated earlier. Daily and weekly totals are calculated and printed on the time cards for data entry into the firm's computer system. Badge systems—employees are issued plastic laminated badges containing punched holes or having magnetic strips or bar codes. The badges are used with electronic time clocks that collect and store data, which later become input to the computer system. Cardless and badgeless systems—employees enter only their personal identification numbers (PIN) on a numerical or alphanumerical key pad. This system, like the badge system, uses time clocks to collect and store data for transmission to, and processing by, the firm's computer system. Personal computer-based systems—employees swipe their identification cards across bar code readers connected to personal computers for easy recording of time worked NEXT GENERATION: Touch-Screen Technology The system requires employees to punch in and out on touch-screen personal computers (PCs), which are connected to the company's main computer server. These touchscreen kiosks are also used to provide information back to the employee regarding the organization. Internet Web-based time accounting systems now allow employees to "clock" in and out via the Internet. Employees use passwords to log on to a secured Web site. This site can also be used by the employees to check their hours worked, vacation time accrued, and messages from the Human Resources Department. This can also be accomplished through the use of mobile and wireless data collection devices (cell phones, personal digital assistants, and Global Positioning Satellite—GPS—enabled smartphones). Without ever visiting their office, employees can enter time and labor information. Biometrics A biometric time system uses a time clock that reads an employee's unique fingerprint or hand geometry (size and shape) to validate the employee. This technology is also available in other forms—voice recognition, iris scan, and even whole-face recognition. IVR A telephone-based time system (Interactive Voice Response) allows employees to use a phone, cell phone, or app on a smartphone for time collection. Just as an employee's hand can be identified, so can an employee's voice tract. Employees call a toll-free number, say their pass code and press 1 to clock in, and repeat the procedure to clock out.

Statutory Employee

Independent contractors specifically classified as employees by statute for Social Security and Medicare taxes. (Insurance agents, Sales People)

PRELIMINARY AND POSTLIMINARY ACTIVITIES

PRELIMINARY AND POSTLIMINARY ACTIVITIES Portal-to-Portal Act, these activities are not compensated unless they are an "integral and indispensable part of the employee's principal activities and not specifically excluded by the Act. walking, riding, or traveling to or from the actual place where employees engage in their principal activities; checking in and out at the plant or office and waiting in line to do so; changing clothes for the convenience of the employee, washing up and showering unless directly related to the specific type of work the employee is hired to perform; and waiting in line to receive paychecks Activities that qualify as "work time" but the time spent on them is so short that they are considered de minimis (insignificant) need not be compensated.

White Collar Workers Exempt when?

Paid at least $993 per week ($47,476 annally)

compensatory time off

Paid time off from work that is substituted for overtime pay when extra hours are worked, and is only available to PUBLIC employees. Up to 480 hours or 240 hours

Areas Not Covered by the FLSA

Pay extra wages for work on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays. Pay for holidays, vacations, or severance. Limit the number of hours or work for persons 16 years of age or over. Give holidays off. Grant vacation time. Grant sick leave.

Equal Pay Act

The Equal Pay Act applies to any employer having workers subject to the minimum pay provisions of the Wage and Hour Law. prohibits an employer from discriminating by paying wages to employees of one sex at a lower rate than those paid the opposite sex for equal work on jobs that require equal skill, effort, and responsibility and that are performed under similar working conditions. However, wage differentials between sexes are allowable if based on a seniority system, a merit system, a payment plan that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or any factor other than sex. If an unlawful pay differential between men and women exists, the employer must raise the lower rate to equal the higher rate.

The Minimum Wage (rate of pay)

The FLSA of 1938 established a minimum wage of 25 cents per hour for a straight-time workweek of 44 hours The FLSA of 1938 established a minimum wage of 25 cents per hour for a straight-time workweek of 44 hours Included in the regular rate of pay is all remuneration for employment paid to or on behalf of the employee are: 1. Commission payments. 2. Earned bonuses (nondiscretionary bonus—which is a bonus normally based on hours worked, units produced, production efficiency, or work quality). 3. Severance pay. 4. On-call pay. 5. Shift or weekend differentials. A discretionary bonus, which is a bonus not agreed upon, announced, or promised before payment, is not included in an employee's regular rate of pay. The employer retains discretion both to the granting and to the amount of the bonus until close to the end of the period for which the bonus is paid (discussion of nondiscretionary bonus). Some other payments are not included in the regular rate of pay. Examples are: 1. Gifts made as a reward for service. 2. Payments for a bona fide profit-sharing or savings plan. 3. Payments for periods when no work is performed—vacations, holidays, sick days, or jury duty days. 4. Payments reported as part of a guaranteed minimum number of hours paid that are more than the actual hours worked. 5. Allowances for vehicles, tools, and uniforms that are considered an offset of employee expenses.

Salary Basis

These white-collar employees must be paid their full salary in any week in which any work is performed without regard to the number of hours worked.

Methods of Computing Wages and Salaries

Time Rate gross earnings: adding the total regular earnings and the total overtime earnings Piece Rate: employer pays workers according to their output, such as an amount for each unit or piece produced. (add total earning from piece rates and all other sources like bonuses then divide the weekly earnings by total numbers of hours worked) The piece rate must at least equal the statutory minimum wage rate. In some instances, an employer may pay a worker an hourly rate for some hours and a piece rate for other hours during the week Overtime Earnings for Pieceworkers—Method A in addition to piecework earnings for the entire period, a sum equal to one-half the regular hourly rate of pay multiplied by the number of hours worked in excess of 40 in the week. Overtime Earnings for Pieceworkers—Method B Before doing the work, piece-rate employees may agree with their employer, in advance of the work being done, to be paid at a rate not less than one and one-half times the piece rate for each piece produced during the overtime hours. No additional overtime pay will be due to the employees. SPECIAL INCENTIVE PLANS the company determines a standard for the quantity that an average worker can produce in a certain period of time. Workers failing to reach the standard earn a lower piece rate, while those who produce more than the standard receive a higher rate. COMMISSIONS The entire remuneration, or at least part of the remuneration, of certain employees may be on a commission basis. A commission is a stated percentage of revenue paid to an employee who transacts a piece of business or performs a service. Thus, a salesperson working in a certain territory may have a fixed salary each year plus a bonus for sales in excess of a certain amount. Commissions are treated as straight-time pay. To calculate overtime, the weekly commission is divided by the total hours worked Commissions are considered to be payments for hours worked and must be included in determining the regular hourly rate. NONDISCRETIONARY BONUSES A bonus that is part of employees' wage rates must be allocated to the wages for the period covered by the bonus. Bonuses that are known in advance, or that are set up as inducements to achieve goals, would fit into this category. The employer has only to add the bonus to the wages for the week and divide the sum by the total hours worked to determine the regular rate of pay. One-half of the regular rate would be the premium needed to apply to the overtime hours. PROFIT SHARING PLANS employer shares with the employees a portion of the profits of the business three types: 1. Cash payments based upon the earnings of a specified period. 2. Profits placed in a special fund or account to be drawn upon by employees at some future time. This plan may be in the form of a savings account, a pension fund, or an annuity. 3. Profits distributed to employees in the form of capital stock. The payments made pursuant to a bona fide profit-sharing plan that meets the standards fixed by the secretary of labor's regulations are not deemed wages in determining the employee's regular rate of pay for overtime purposes.

Penalties for misclassified workers?

Unintentional with Form 1099: 1.5% of wages + 20% of SS Tax Unintentional w/o Form 1099: Double above Intentional: 100% of Federal income tax and SS taxes

Salary and partial week

Week pay (days worked/working week days or 5)

Child-Labor Restrictions

Under the FLSA, the secretary of labor issues regulations that restrict the employment of individuals under the age of 18. The restrictions divide child employment into nonfarm occupations and agricultural occupations NON FARM OCCUPATIONS (The basic minimum age for most jobs is 16 years) FLSA lists 17 occupations that are considered too dangerous. These include mining, forestry, excavation, roofing work, operation of certain power-driven tools, and most on-the-job driving. However, employees ages 16 and 17 may work an unlimited number of hours each week in nonhazardous jobs. Within certain limits, 14- and 15-year-olds may be employed in retail, food service, and gasoline service establishments The employment of minors between the ages of 14 and 16 cannot interfere with their schooling, health, and well-being. In addition, the following conditions must be met: 1) All work must be performed outside school hours. 2) There is a maximum three-hour day and 18-hour week when school is in session (eight hours and 40 hours when not in session). 3) All work must be performed between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. (9 p.m. during the summer). AGRICULTURAL OCCUPATIONS: under age 12 is generally prohibited in agricultural 1)During hours when school is in session. 2) Outside school hours on farms, including conglomerates, that used more than 500 man-days of labor in any quarter of the preceding calendar year. 3) Outside school hours on noncovered farms without parental consent. (However, children may work on farms owned or operated by their parents or guardians. ) Children 10 and 11 years old can work as hand harvest laborers outside school hours for up to eight weeks between June 1 and October 15, with a number of strict conditions on the employer. Children aged 12 and 13 may be employed only during hours when school is not in session provided there is parental consent or the employment is on a farm where the parents are employed. Children aged 14 and 15 may be employed, but only during hours when school is not in session. No child under the age of 16 may be employed in a hazardous farm occupation, such as operating large tractors, corn pickers, cotton pickers, grain combines, and feed grinders. CERTIFICATE OF AGE Employers cannot be charged with having violated the child-labor restrictions of the law if they have on file an officially executed certificate of age which shows that the minor has reached the stipulated minimum age a state employment or age certificate, issued by the Federal Wage and Hour Division or by a state agency, serves as proof of age. In some states, a state or federal certificate of age, a state employment certificate, or a work permit may not be available. Birth certificate (or attested transcript thereof) or a signed statement of the recorded date and place of birth issued by a registrar of vital statistics or other officer charged with the duty of recording births. Record of baptism (or attested transcript thereof) showing the date of birth of the minor. Statement on the census records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and signed by an administrative representative thereof showing the name, date, and place of the minor's birth.