A recent federal case out of the Eastern District of Michigan highlights the importance of good record keeping, particularly in regard to wage and hour liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). That law requires employers to pay overtime premium pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek. Non-compliant employers may be liable for the unpaid overtime plus attorney fees to the prevailing employee.
Typically, an employee claiming entitlement to unpaid overtime wages has the burden of proving he or she worked more than 40 hours in a workweek and was not properly compensated. Yet, the FLSA requires an employer to keep and preserve records of the number of hours worked by each employee in a workweek. When an employer’s records are not sufficient, a court may permit the employee to simply testify about the number of hours he or she worked.
In Davis v. Richland Maintenance, Inc., certain employees performed cleaning services at multiple locations during a single shift. These employees were required to fill out timesheets that documented the time spent at each worksite, but the timesheets did not document the time spent traveling between locations or the time between assignments in which no work was performed, but the employees were prohibited from pursuing personal activities during these times. As such, the timesheets did not record all of the hours worked by these employees and the court relied heavily on the employees’ testimony regarding the number of hours they worked. The court ultimately awarded the employees back pay for unpaid overtime wages, but did not award “liquidated” damages because the employer showed it acted “reasonably and in good faith.”
Employers are reminded to diligently keep track of the time worked by their non-exempt employees in a workweek and to preserve these records in order to avoid liability under the FLSA.