Determine If an Employee Must Be Paid for Waiting Time
Key Points
- Determining whether waiting time counts as hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) depends on the particular circumstances.
- If the circumstances show an employee was engaged to wait, the employee must be paid for his or her time. If they show the employee waited to be engaged then the employee does not need to be paid for that time.
- As a general rule, time spent waiting to work is compensable if it is spent primarily for the benefit of the employer and its business.
