At PSU, we value employee independence, self-management, and creativity and encourage staff to develop these talents. In the case of non-exempt (overtime subject) employees these values may collide with federal or state wage and hour laws and/or union contractual obligations. In this article you’ll find references to new wage and hour case law and descriptions of existing legal requirements. Unfortunately, wage and hour laws are not negotiable with an employee, even when a non-exempt employee wishes not to comply or has presented an attractive alternative plan. Employees cannot “waive” their legal rights in regard to these laws.

The following paragraphs outline some of the more routine questions or concerns that arise related to non-exempt employee timekeeping and refer readers to recent law changes. Some of this information may surprise you.

Meal and Rest Periods

• Meal Periods: Oregon employers must provide employees with at least a 30-minute unpaid meal period when the work period is six hours or greater. The law requires an uninterrupted period in which the employee is relieved of all duties. No meal period is required if the work period is less than six hours. If the work period is at least six hours but less than seven hours, the meal must be taken between the second and fifth hour worked. If the work period is more than seven hours, the meal period must be taken between the third and sixth hour worked.
  
• Rest Periods: At PSU, non-exempt employees receive a paid, uninterrupted rest break of 15-minutes for every four-hour segment or major portion thereof in the work period. The rest break should be given in the middle of each work segment, whenever possible. The rest break cannot be added to or deducted from the beginning or end of the work period and employers are not obligated to give additional rest breaks to employees who are smokers. Employees must actually take all required breaks.

Employees cannot refuse or legally “waive” their rights to a break or meal period. It is not the employee’s choice whether or not to take the required breaks. An employee who refuses to take breaks may be subject to discipline. To be in compliance, employers must require non-exempt employees to take all mandated breaks or run the risk of incurring penalties of up to $1,000 per violation. This duty becomes more burdensome starting in January 2008. See “Legal Briefs” in this issue for more information.

Paydays and Time Sheets

Non-exempt hourly paid employees are required to submit time sheets with all of the appropriate approvals to Human Resources by the 16th of each month and non-exempt monthly paid employees by the 10th of each month. If the time sheets are not turned in, it remains the employer´s responsibility to track hours worked and to ensure payments owed are paid to all employees on regular paydays. Supervisors may use disciplinary measures when employees fail to submit time sheets or if time sheets do not accurately reflect hours worked, sick and/or vacation leave taken depending on the circumstances that caused the delay or inaccuracies.

Changes effective January 1, 2008 will impose additional penalties on PSU whenever any employee does not receive all payments owed on a payday. These penalties will be charged back to the responsible department. For more information see “Legal Briefs” in this issue.

Final Paychecks

The Human Resources web page titled “Separating Employees” was recently updated to describe steps that managers and employees must take to be timely in the final pay of employees (http://www.pdx.edu/hr/seperating_employee.html). Untimely pay carries increasing monetary penalties that are charged back to departments.

Currently, according to Oregon law, if an employee quits with notice of at least 48 hours, the final check is due on the final day worked, unless the last day falls on a weekend or holiday. In that case, the check is due on the next business day. If an employee quits with less than 48 hours notice, excluding weekends and holidays, the paycheck is due within five days, excluding weekends and holidays, or on the next regular payday, whichever comes first. If an employee is separated from PSU involuntarily, our goal is to provide the final pay on the same day of the separation. Although Oregon law allows for payment by the end of the next business day, best practice is to arrange for final pay to be available on the last day worked.

Payment of Overtime

The law requires most employers to pay overtime at the rate of 1-1/2 times the regular rate for all hours over 40 in the workweek. Overtime must be calculated based on a recurring, seven-day workweek. At PSU the workweek runs from Sunday 12:01 a.m. through Saturday 12:00 midnight. At PSU, the SEIU labor contract provides additional guidelines for overtime eligible hours of our classified staff. See the “SEIU Contract, Article 25” for these important differences with Federal and State laws.

• Can I require employees to work overtime? Yes. An employer may dictate an employee´s work schedule and hours. Employers may discipline or even terminate employees who refuse to work scheduled overtime. It is advisable to give employees as much advance notice of overtime requirements as practicable.
• If my employee works unauthorized overtime, am I obligated to pay for it? Yes. You can discipline an employee who violates your policy by working overtime without the required authorization. However, wage and hour laws require that you compensate the employee for any hours you "suffer or permit" the employee to work.

Travel Time

Whether employers must compensate employees for travel time depends largely on the type of travel involved. Wage and Hour rules define four basic categories of employee travel: portal-to-portal; travel between worksites; travel on special one-day assignments; and overnight travel. The table below summarizes an employer’s obligations to pay travel time to non-exempt employees:

Compensable travel hours must be counted for purposes of calculating whether an employee has performed more than 40 hours of work in a single workweek.

Most of the preceding information was adapted from the Oregon Bureau of Labor website which provides significant guidance to employers on laws, including wage and hour. For more information and examples outlining the application of laws to non-exempt employee pay, go to http://www.boli.state.or.us/BOLI/TA/T_FAQ_Tafaq.shtml.