Cher said it best: “If I could turn back time …” And on that note, Sara Hutchins Jodka of Porter Wright is advising employers that when it’s time for daylight saving time, they can’t turn back the time clocks on their employees. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, “the rule of thumb is easy: Employers are only required to pay hourly (nonexempt) employee(s) for hours actually worked,” says Jodka.
She breaks it down further for each daylight saving scenario:
- Springing Ahead: Graveyard-shift employees scheduled to start work on midnight the day the clocks go ahead an hour end up working one hour less of their shift. Jodka says that unless there is a policy in place, they don’t actually need to be paid for this hour.
- Falling Back: When the clocks fall back is when employers really need to watch out. A nonexempt employee working the graveyard shift when daylight saving ends will work the hour between 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. twice. In this case, he or she needs to be paid for nine hours of work, says Jodka. And in states where overtime hours apply for days longer than eight hours, this ninth hour must receive extra pay.
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