the municipal secretary desktop reference manual - Southwestern ...

FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT
The Fair Labor Standards Act sets minimum wage and overtime standards for employees,
and applies, in most cases, to municipal government employees. Several classifications of
municipal employees are exempt from the Act’s provisions. The municipal solicitor or the U.S.
Dept. of Labor’s Wage and Labor Division may be contacted for a definitive answer on those
exemptions. Generally speaking, the Act applies to all personnel, except ELECTED
POSITIONS, EXECUTIVE PERSONNEL, ADMINISTRATIVE and PROFESSIONAL
EMPLOYEES, and MOST SEASONAL RECREATION WORKERS.
The Act requires that covered employees be:
paid at least minimum wage.
provided time-and-a-half pay or granted one-and-one-half hours off for any
hours they work over the standard 40 hours in a seven-day work week. Sick leave,
vacation or paid holidays are not counted toward those 40 hours. Covered
employees paid on a salary basis are also included, in which case hours are
counted in the weekly period established for the job classification by the
municipal governing body.
paid for overtime hours once a maximum of 240 hours of compensatory timeand-a-half
off hours are given (for 160 hours of actual overtime worked). The
governing body should adopt a written policy to avoid misunderstandings.
paid, upon termination, for all unused compensatory time at a rate of not less
than the average regular rate received by that employee during the last three years
of employment, or the final regular rate received, whichever is higher.
In addition, the governing body must:
maintain detailed records of hours worked and wages paid for each employee.
Any time-keeping method may be used, as long as it is complete and accurate.
keep all records on which wage and hour computations are based for at least
two years, preferably four years.
The Act does not require:
extra pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays (unless those hours
constitute hours in excess of the 40 hour provision)
pay for vacations or holidays
severance pay
discharge notices
limits on the number of hours of work for employees 16 years and over, as long
as overtime pay provisions are met
time off for worked holidays or vacations
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