Employee Benefit News for School, City and County Employers

Tracking Hours Worked for Remote Employees

Written by Erin Woulfe | Aug 27, 2020 4:25:59 PM

1 minute read

The Department of Labor issued a bulletin to remind employers to accurately keep track of the hours their employees work away from the office. This applies to telework, remote work arrangements, and those working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) says that employers must compensate employees for all their hours of work. This includes hours that an employee is allowed or requested to work including remote work or telework. For remote work, it’s the time that the employer knows or has reason to believe work is being performed, regardless if the work was requested or authorized.

In addition to keeping track of the number of hours worked, employers should provide reasonable procedures for employees to report unscheduled or scheduled hours of work. If an employee fails to report unscheduled hours, the employer isn’t required to undergo impractical efforts to uncover unreported hours.

Download the bulletin for more details.

This blog is intended to be a compilation of information and resources pulled from federal, state, and local agencies. This is not intended to be legal advice. For up to the minute information and guidance on COVID-19, please follow the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and your local health organizations.