Hours worked - Part-Time non-exempt ee

System

Hello everyone,

I was hoping to hear some advice on this one. I have an employee who has resigned from his position and discovered that this job was really not for him (resigned within one month and a half from start date).
However, I received this information from his manager weeks after he had quit the job already. The issue though is that the paperwork received from the manager had an email print out from the employee where he explained his reasonings for resigning, in addition to say that for the past 2 weeks he (the employee) had been working part time hours which he decided not to report as worked because he wasn't really with it anyways, so he thought it'd be unfair to claim those worked hours from the company. So he didn't claim them at all.

When reading through his email, some questions came through my mind but since I'm not really the HR person in the company (I only take care of some HR related issues within the department), I was curious to hear from you all, what implications if any could arise from such comments. Should we address the issue with the former employee? Problem is that he is long gone.

Thank you,
Sara

Down_the_Middle

While you likely have some obligation to pay for the hours worked, I would simply acknowledge it (internally) and wait 2/c if you hear from him. If he raises the question you pay him and its over. If he goes quietly in the night, then no harm no foul. There are bigger battles to fight than this one.

WT

This is good advice. Your are obliged to pay any employee for any hours you permit (or suffer) him or her to work. There is no working off the clock according to FLSA nor can any employee legally agree to do so. However, you cannot pay him if you cannot find him. Stand ready to pay the bill. One thought, I would tabulate the hours worked and know what the amount to pay the hours amounts to. Then you will not be caught by disappearing records if the person changes their mind a year hence.

Crout

If I understand your post, the manager received an email from the employee prior to his last day in which the employee acknowledged that he did not report a specific number of hours on his last time sheet because his head wasn't really in the game...is that correct? It's simple. You guys owe him those hours, which the manager should have immediately corrected upon receiving that email. Tally up the hours, cut him a check and send it to his last known address with a letter explaining the "discovery" of those hours.

System

Thank you! Actually the manager received the email after the fact... apparently he wasn't coming to work anymore and then he sent the manager the email resigning.

I appreciate all the replies. Thanks again!!

HRinGA

I would make a good faith effort to pay the hours worked. I had a former employee contact me via certified letter that we owed him wages from hours worked, but not reported on his timecard.

All he has to say is that he was discouraged from reporting them b/c "his head wasn't in it", or whatever.

We ended up paying out several hundred bucks to this former employee. He had dates, times, where he was working, etc. And he had been gone for several months. It was almost like he was waiting on purpose, just to make us go through hoops. The manager didn't contest the hours either, which means he knew he was working and didn't care the employee didn't report it.

pork1

SACASTRO: Your company owes money to this individual, make the manager figure out what hours the individual is admitting to and give that to payroll. Cut the check and mail it by "return receipt required".
Uncle SAM and his spouse (STATE SAMMIE) want their money regardless of the kindness of the ee or his manager. As HRs everywhere, we can not just sit by and wait to see if the issue arises.

I bet once you inform your HR of this information, he/she will immediately react accordingly. The penalities are not worth the after fact concerns. If no response and you now admit this failure, then how good is your word when he begins to claim other time forced not to report by his/her manager.

I can hear it played out in court by FLSA or EEOC: 'well XX company, you admit that this ee reported time not reported and you did nothing, and now he claims these other failures and now you want to do something". Give me a break! Best guess the hours and cut the man a check and then file it all away for later opportunities to excel.

PORK

System

I certainly hope it never gets to this stage. But considering the replies received, I will mention again to Main HR the commments the former ee made in his resignation letter, and recommend they pay for his time asap.

At least I'll have done my part... Thanks again!

marc

There is an additional point to consider. This EEs supervisor should know the hours worked. Yes, it is the EEs responsibility to clock or record hours worked, but it is the supervisor's duty to verify or authorize. Does this supervisor not know how many hours are being worked? Could any one of this staff write down whatever they want and this person just signs off?

I would submit that your hours worked control system has some serious flaws.