The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to keep records of each employee's hours worked each day and the total hours worked each week. Failure to keep a record of these hours can be a major problem if a complaint is filed with the Department of Labor for alleged violations of the FLSA. In the absence of such records, any records the employee maintained on time worked will probably be viewed as valid.

The FLSA does not prescribe how these time records be kept. Time sheets, time cards, electronic time keeping systems, and other such methods are acceptable. What is important is that the time records be accurate. They should reflect what actually happened and not what the ideal work schedule should be.

Sometimes, there is confusion as to what time should be shown as time worked. For example, let's assume that an employee's normal work schedule begins at 8 a.m., but the employee regularly arrives for work at 7:30 a.m. If the employee does no work for the employer but, instead, drinks coffee, reads the newspaper, and engages in other similar personal activities, then this would not be viewed as time worked and would not have to be recorded. If, however, the employee starts performing services for the employer as soon as he arrives at the workplace, and the supervisor is aware of this, the time would then be recorded as time worked. The employer cannot knowingly receive the benefit of the efforts of an employee without compensating the employee.

If the employer requires employees to report for work at 7:45 a.m. so that they will be ready to start work at 8 a.m., the time between 7:45 a.m. and 8 a.m. would be time worked even if no work was performed for the employer. In this case, the employees are being engaged to wait and this time must be recognized and compensated.