32,900 results in .31 seconds.

I did a Google news search on “overtime lawsuits,” and that’s how many hits the Google machine returned faster than I can type “holy moly.” Businesses are being sued at an alarming rate for failing to pay overtime properly. Between 2000 and 2015, wage and labor dispute lawsuits skyrocketed by 358%.1   A lawsuit can derail your business dreams, but this doesn’t need to happen to you. In our 6th installment of Avoid These 8 Major Pitfalls to Succeed In Your Businesswe discuss how our clock-in, clock-out employee management system keeps the lawyers off your front steps with accurate and easy overtime reporting.

If you track employee hours with handwritten timesheets, you know it’s a nightmare. Then if you have overtime in the mix, it’s a wonder you get any rest. Toss in a semi-monthly payroll and factor in non-overtime payroll items like sick leave, holiday, and vacation time, and you have a full-blown hot mess to deal with every pay period.

Wouldn’t you like a payroll report that calculates regular and overtime for all pay cycles?

If the timekeeping system knows that PTO hours are overtime-exempt, that’s even better, right? And what if your pay period starts at any other time than midnight, say 5 am? Or you have employees who work across the midnight hour, and you need to split their timesheets into two days, and these two days could split a week?   Manually calculate that, and the probability of being an overtime lawsuit statistic is high.  These variables affect correct overtime reporting, but a Smart Time Tracking system can easily handle them.

It’s time to get smart about overtime reporting and not leave it to chance with handwritten timesheets and manual calculations (or any timekeeping system that can’t help you with all the issues above.) Since January 2007, employers have paid out $3.6 billion to settle wage and labor disputes, with most lawsuits related to overtime.2    If you end up on the wrong side of an overtime lawsuit, you need accurate, organized, and automated reports to back you up. You need a smart solution. Our online timekeeping system can keep your small business dreams safe. Let us help you get started with a 30-day free trial.

Our next post will talk specifically about California overtime. We can help with that, too.

Stay tuned and stay in touch by following us on Facebook.

  1. Lydia DePillis, “Why wage and hour litigation is skyrocketing,” Washingtonpost.com, November 25, 2015
  2. Larry Downing, “Get ready for an explosion in overtime lawsuits, America,” Quartz.com, May 18, 2016