Minimum
Amount of Hours - Not Required
An employer is not
required to pay a minimum number of hours to its
hourly paid employees or to its non-exempt salary
employees including if they are called back in.
An employer only has to pay its hourly employees
and non-exempt salary employees for the actual hours
worked regardless of how long or how few the time
is.
For example: If an
employer called an employee in to work but sent
the employee home after waiting 15 minutes to see
if the employee would be needed, then the employer
only has to pay the employee for the 15 minutes
as the time waiting is work time. If an employer
called an employee in to work but met the employee
at the door and sent the employee home before the
employee had to wait or perform any work, then the
employer would not have to pay this employee anything
at all. If an employer called an employee in for
a conference or meeting that lasted only 30 minutes
and this is all of the time that the employee worked
that day, then the employer only has to pay the
employee for the 30 minutes. But an employer does
have to pay its employees for the time they have
to wait in the establishment to see if they are
needed.
The only variation
to this is if an employer has made a promise to
pay its employees a certain minimum amount of time
if an hourly employee or non-exempt salary employee
is called in as a wage payment agreement. The giving
or not giving of promised wages, including wage
benefits, is entirely up to each employer. "Promised
wages" can be an hourly rate that is more than
the minimum wage, overtime pay for certain days
worked rather than the statutory requirement of
paying overtime pay for the hours worked in excess
of 40 in a workweek, shift differential pay, commissions,
bonuses, piece-rate, production pay, a weekly salary,
a monthly salary, subsistence, or mileage expenses.
"Wage benefits" are benefits such as vacation
pay, sick leave, jury duty pay, and holiday pay.
If an employer does promise to pay such wages, then
the employer must pay all promised wages, including
wage benefits, accruing to its employees based on
any policy, agreement or practice that the employer
has established. And pursuant to N.C.G.S. 95-25.13(2),
the employer must: "Make available to its employees,
in writing or through a posted notice maintained
in a place accessible to its employees, employment
practices and policies with regard to promised wages."
Please review on-line
our fact sheet on Promised
Wages Including Wage Benefits for details on
promised wages and wage benefits.
North Carolina Department
of Labor
Wage and Hour Bureau
1101 Mail Service
Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1101
(919) 807-2796 or (toll-free NC only) 1-800-NC-LABOR
Web site: http://www.nclabor.com
