Time clock record keeping violations - What you should know!

Little Italy restaurant in Kissimmee, FL to pay over $40,000 due in part to Time clock record keeping violations of the FLSA.

It is problem industry wide; servers and cooks paid straight time for hours worked that qualify for overtime. It’s not uncommon for restaurants to attempt to use ignorance of the law to skirt FLSA claiming that they are in compliance by paying 80 hours in a two-week period as opposed to 40 hour in one week which is the law. 

This is a bigger issue for tipped employees as the adjustment in time paid across pay weeks caused several employees to fall below the required minimum wage. The problem is so prolific that several law firms have opened specializing in restaurant employee law. One firm in New York City has sued and won millions of dollars in judgments for New York City restaurant employees. These types of judgments are easy to avoid with so many inexpensive time clock systems for small business on the market today. In many cases the restaurant will not even need to purchase a time system, as online time clocks integrate with online payroll services and are offered as a SaaS monthly per use billing.

“Violations like these are far too common in the restaurant industry,” said Daniel White, district director of the DOL wage and hour division in Northeast Florida.

Had Little Italy maintain required time clock and payroll records, by implementing an electronic time clock system or another time clock device, the overtime would have been automatically calculated correctly, and minimum wage requirements would have been met.