Determining Compensable Hours Crucial to Determining Rightful Pay

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides that all workers must be paid at least minimum wage. Currently, federal minimum wage is set at $7.25/hour. Violations of this provision are not always obvious as, for example, a miscalculation such as paying you for 7 hours worked when you worked 8. Often, the challenges come in determining what constitutes work.

Recently the question arose about when truck drivers should be paid for time spent in their sleeper berths. A federal judge determined that drivers must be paid at least minimum wage for time spent off-duty and in their sleeper berths. The decision doesn’t stipulate that this time specifically must be paid, but rather that the total compensation when divided by the total number of hours worked, must be at least $7.25/hour.

This is one of the first decisions of its kind involving the trucking industry.

For more information, or if you have any wage and hour questions, please contact the dedicated Atlanta wage and hour lawyers at Buckley Bala Wilson Mew LLP for an immediate case evaluation.