Overtime Pay, the FLSA &”Time Theft” — Part I (Introduction and White-Collar Exemptions)
Who “owns” an employee’s time? Are you stealing from your employer if you take a personal call at work? What about if you check your personal email, or take some time to send out resumes?
Does it matter whether you’re an hourly worker who is entitled to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) or a salaried worker who is not?
Should the answers change as jobs increasingly require continuous electronic availability and permit flexible work hours and/or locations?
Since the FLSA was a central piece of the New Deal, do present economic circumstances require updating it to ensure that worker protections deemed essential to economic recovery during the Great Depression are not watered down, but able to play the same role today?
Our December 15, 2008, post on increasing employee theft in the recession included “time theft” by employees because many employers consider this a proper description of employee misuse of working time, such as attending to personal business while on the job (including looking for another job).
That post led to a blog post by Jon Jacobs at JobsintheMoney’s CareerWire blog entitled “Deconstructing Time Theft,” which quotes me and raises what Jon considers to be employer “theft” of employees’ time. (Jon was just a guest poster here on the subject of Wall Street bonuses in December).
I have my own views, as do Dawn and Jon, so we decided to start a series of posts on these issues with a three-way discussion. Continue reading about “time theft” …
Article by George Lenard, the originator of George’s Employment Blawg, has over twenty years of experience in all aspects of labor and employment law, including preventive law as well as litigation. His special interests include employment discrimination, sexual harassment, and noncompetition agreements. He is currently a managing partner with Harris, Dowell, Fisher & Harris, L.C., in St. Louis, Missouri, and lives in the suburb of University City with his wife and family.
