Wages

SARA88 · February 2005

Our Chief Tech. Officer wants to hire a person to process the bank's work during the evening hours, but only wants to pay for the time they are actually on-line processing. The total time it takes to process is approximately 45 min to one hour. The problem is, the entire process takes a total of 3-4 hours to complete. He says because this person is only on the system 45 minutes to one hour, he does not want to pay for the idle time this person is not processing. During the time the person is not processing (checking screens for potential problems) they are free to leave their house or go shopping etc., as long as they check in at least once per hour. Are we required to pay for the 3-4 hours or can we pay this person for the 45 minutes to one hour? He states that we will pay this individual approximately $20 - $25 for this period of time.

Gillian3 · February 2005

I think that the checking in once per hour places a degree of control on the employee so that it becomes working time. Maybe Cheapo could hire three people, one to work 45 minutes to an hour and be paid accordingly and two more to do the checking in for five minutes each and be paid accordingly.

Al Vreeland · February 2005

For on-call time, the answer depends on the degree of freedom they have - checking in every hour is not a high degree of freedom. Other options: You could either pay them minimum wage for the entire 3-4 hours or you could have them clock out for breaks in between. The breaks however have to be at least 15 minutes in length.

Al Vreeland
Editor, Alabama Employment Law Letter
Lehr Middlebrooks Price & Vreeland, P.C.

Shadowfax · February 2005

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 02-23-05 AT 01:28PM (CST)[/font][br][br][font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 02-23-05 AT 01:04 PM (CST)[/font]

Al - I always thought there was some discrepancy in the FLSA when a break lasted between 20 and 30 minutes - but I was always confident that a 15 minute break was a paid break and maybe a 21 minute break was not. You seem to be saying a 15 minute break is not paid. Do I understand this correctly? Can you shoot me to the reg re 15 minute break? I can';t find a 15 min rest period break, but the field ops manual seems to say a 5 to 20 minute break is compensable. (31a01)

To the original poster, I see this as a 'waiting time' issue in any event (785.15) 'engaged to wait' as opposed to 'wait to be engaged' and is compensable

(I just found 785.18 which seems to say a rest break less than 20 minutes is compensable)

pork1 · February 2005

SARA888: I read ole "cheap-po" Banker trying to do something for nothing and break the law. First of all if the bank is going to ask someone to come in to do quality work, the minimum should be for no less than 4 hours per evening. Make sure El cheap-po is also aware of the fact that it takes some preparation time to come to and leave the office and after hours work also gets to be kinda lonily and dangerous after dark. Heck we pay a premium pay for all hours worked after 5 PM and before 7 AM of a $ollar per hour. Of course , then bankers hours are different arn't they? But the evening hours are also when families are getting together for the meal period.

If the work to be accomplished for the benefit of the company and the employees who have to do the work the first thing the next morning, then it is worth paying someone with whom you can trust and have confidence in having the ee doing work with no supervision or little.

I doubt you will be able to find anyone for minimum wage. We don't even pay "Hog manure" shoveling workers minimum wage. It is a nasty function, which must be done for the benefit of the animals and the other employees. We pay more for nasty jobs. After all the bank is going to pass on the cost for all work to its customers so pay the employee good wages and don't let El Cheap-po deal my banking account to some scum bag you can get off of the street for minimum wage.

Boy did this thread get my "hog" and here it is closing time and I'v got to run to the barn and put the animals to sleep. But not to worry I hired a "dirt bag" today to do the data input after hours for $5.15 an hour, he can take care of 0putting the animals to bed. It is a simple task to turn the lights off and make sure the water is on and working.

Ya'll have a Blessed evening and a better one tomorrow!

PORK

allengeorge · February 2005

Sounds to me like you should be following Murphy's Law rather than federal law on this one. One of Murph's laws says what can go wrong will go wrong. And, if something goes wrong during the processing of the bank's daily work and it is lost, how much is it going to cost to put it all back together again and how many customers are going to be ticked off and/or lost in the balance. So, the ee who is charged with doing this job had better pay close attention to the screens as the work is being processed and that constitutes work. Pay him/her for their close attention because if you don't, you may be paying a whole lot more when the system fails.

Kathy in Alabama · March 2005

Is there a productive task that this person could perform in the waiting time that would make paying them 3-4 hours a little easier to consider. If they are on the clock, it is not unreasonable to expect work from them.

Wages

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