Policy required document Workplace
Timekeeping, Overtime and Meal and Rest Break Policy
A timekeeping policy tells nonexempt employees how to record their hours, that all time worked will be paid, that overtime must be authorized in advance but will be paid whether or not it was, that working off the clock is prohibited, and how meal and rest breaks work.
Wage and hour claims are the most expensive category of employment litigation because they scale: every employee who worked under the same practice is a potential plaintiff, and the Fair Labor Standards Act lets them sue together.
The Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division recovered $259 million in back wages for 176,957 workers in fiscal year 2025; $146.4 million of the FLSA share was overtime owed to 110,551 people (WHD enforcement data).
The federal courts recorded 4,893 new FLSA cases in the year to September 30, 2025 (Table C-2), and that count leaves out the state-court cases, which in California carry Private Attorneys General Act penalties on top of the wages.
The policy matters because the law does not accept a rule on its own. The regulation is explicit: management must exercise its control and see that the work is not performed if it does not want it performed; the mere promulgation of a rule against such work is not enough (29 CFR 785.13).
What a written policy does is define the procedure the employer then has to enforce, give the employee a duty to report unrecorded time, and set the meal and rest rules that state law makes mandatory.
California requires a 30-minute meal period by the end of the fifth hour and a paid ten-minute rest period per four hours, and owes an extra hour of pay for each day a break is missed (Labor Code 512 and 226.7); Washington, Oregon, Illinois, New York, Colorado and others have their own versions.
Federal law requires no breaks at all, which is why a national employer's policy is a federal core with state schedules attached.
Obligation ledger
Who requires it, and what each one says.
| Source | Applies when | What it requires | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair Labor Standards Act, maximum hours 29 U.S.C. 207(a) | Every covered employer, for nonexempt employees | Overtime at one and one-half times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. The duty exists whether or not the overtime was approved. | Mandatory |
| FLSA regulations, hours worked, duty of management 29 CFR 785.13 | Every covered employer | Management must see that work it does not want performed is not performed; it cannot accept the benefit without paying; a rule against unauthorized work is not enough on its own, and management must make every effort to enforce it. The policy is the rule; the enforcement record is the defense. | Mandatory |
| FLSA recordkeeping regulations 29 CFR 516.2 | Every covered employer | Records for each nonexempt employee of hours worked each day and each workweek, regular rate, and overtime pay, kept three years (payroll) and two years (time cards and schedules). The policy states how those hours are captured. | Mandatory |
| California Labor Code, meal periods Cal. Lab. Code 512 | California employers, nonexempt employees working more than five hours | A 30-minute meal period for work over five hours and a second for work over ten, with limited waivers. Missed breaks owe one additional hour of pay per day under section 226.7. | Mandatory |
Required sections
- Who is nonexempt and who is exempt, and that exemption is decided by the employer on duties and salary, not by job title
- How hours are recorded, including remote work, and the employee's duty to record all time and to report any error
- A clear prohibition on working off the clock, including reading email, logging in early and working through lunch, and a statement that any such time will be paid and the practice corrected
- Overtime: advance authorization required, unauthorized overtime still paid, and the discipline route for the authorization breach rather than the pay
- The workweek definition and the pay period
- Meal and rest breaks by state, with the duty-free requirement, the timing, and the premium pay for missed breaks where state law provides it
- Rounding rules, if used, and the requirement that they be neutral (29 CFR 785.48)
- Travel time, on-call time, training time and donning and doffing where relevant to the workforce
- Where to report a pay concern, and a no-retaliation statement (the FLSA has its own at 29 U.S.C. 215(a)(3))
What the examiner asks for
What changed
Change log.
Frameworks
Where this document is required.
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From the publisher
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Questions
What people ask.
If our policy bans unauthorized overtime, do we still have to pay it?
Yes. The regulation says the rule alone is not enough; if the employer knew or should have known the work was being done, it is paid. The policy lets you discipline the employee for breaking the authorization rule. It never lets you withhold the pay.
Why is this the most expensive category?
Because it is collective. One practice applied to a whole workforce creates one claim per employee, and the FLSA allows them to be brought together. The Labor Department alone recovered $259 million in FY 2025, and private suits and state penalties come on top of that.
Federal law requires no breaks. Why include them?
Because state law does, in the states most employers have staff. California owes an extra hour of pay for every missed meal or rest period, per day, and that premium is the single most common item in California wage claims. The policy is where the state schedule lives.
Do salaried employees need to track time?
Only if they are nonexempt. Salary alone does not make someone exempt; the duties test and the salary threshold both have to be met. Misclassification turns every hour over 40 into unpaid overtime going back two or three years.
Sources
29 U.S.C. 207, maximum hours (Cornell LII)29 CFR 785.13, duty of management (Cornell LII)29 CFR 516.2, records to be kept by employers (Cornell LII)Cal. Lab. Code 512, meal periods (California Legislative Information)U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, FLSA back wages by fiscal yearU.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division enforcement data, FY 2025Table C-2, U.S. District Courts civil cases commenced by nature of suit, 12 months ending September 30, 2025 (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts)