Last Sunday we all turned our clocks back one hour for daylight savings time. Many employees in Wisconsin who worked the third-shift in manufacturing or worked a night shift as a waiter or waitress worked the extra hour even though their schedule may not have reflected it. Employees and nefarious employers should be aware that the Fair Labor Standards Act requires all hours worked to be paid even during daylight savings time.
The majority of the country returned to standard time as daylight savings time officially ended last Sunday morning at 2 a.m. While some people enjoyed their extra hour of fun or sleep, many people also worked. Some employers like to overlook the extra hour of work in a shift over daylight savings time. Employees in Wisconsin should know that the Fair Labor Standards Act requires that employees must be credited with all of the hours actually worked.
For at least one worker, his employer tried to forego payment for the extra hour by explaining that next spring’s daylight savings time would even things out. A report on the Consumerist said the employer only paid the employee for eight hours of work instead of the nine hours worked during last Saturday night and early Sunday morning. Like many people, the employee worked a shift from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The employer told the employee he would only be paid for eight hours since the hours would even out during daylight savings time in the spring when employees would be paid for working an extra hour.
An example offered by the Labor Department showed that an employee who worked last Sunday worked the hour from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. twice because at 2 a.m. clocks are turned back to 1 a.m. As a result, employees who worked during the fallback to standard time should be paid for the time they actually worked.
Source: abcnews.go.com, “Daylight savings causes pay confusion,” Susanna Kim, Nov. 9, 2011
