As covered in Chapter 1, recordkeeping exists alongside the pay rules, not as an afterthought to them. Section 11(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“the Act”) authorizes the Secretary to write regulations requiring records of hours worked, wages paid, and other conditions of employment. Those regulations live in the Code of Federal Regulations (29 CFR) Part 516. For every employee covered by section 6 (the Act’s minimum wage requirement), whether or not also covered by the overtime provisions of section 7(a) (the Act’s overtime requirement), § 516.2(a) (the “§” denotes a subsection of the Code of Federal Regulations) lists twelve specific items a payroll or other record must contain. Nothing prescribes a form for keeping them. Under § 516.1(a) an employer may hold the twelve items in whatever system it already uses, including microfilm or an electronic memory, as long as adequate projection or viewing equipment is available, the record is clear, identifiable by date or pay period, and can be produced or transcribed on request.

The twelve items fall into four natural groups. The first identifies the employee and establishes the day and time the workweek begins — full name as used for Social Security recordkeeping (and, on the same record, any identifying symbol or number used instead of the full name on time sheets, work records, or payroll records), home address with zip code, date of birth if the employee is under 19, sex and occupation, and the time of day and day of week the workweek begins. Where the employee is part of a workforce or establishment whose workers all share the same workweek start day and time, a single notation of that day and time for the whole workforce or establishment satisfies this item in place of a per-employee entry (§ 516.2(a)(5)). The second captures what was actually worked — hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek. The third builds the hourly number discussed in Chapter 7: the regular hourly rate for any week in which overtime is due, the basis of pay (per hour, per day, per week, per piece, commission, or other), and the amount and nature of anything excluded from the regular rate under section 7(e) (see Chapter 7, § 7.6, and Chapter 8 for what qualifies as a section 7(e) exclusion). The fourth documents what the employee was actually paid — total straight-time earnings (wages due for hours worked, exclusive of overtime premium), total overtime premium pay (the extra amount paid for overtime hours, above straight-time earnings), additions to or deductions from wages paid each pay period (with the dates, amounts, and nature of each item recorded in individual employee records, per § 516.2(a)(10)), total wages paid each pay period, and the date of payment and the period it covers.

§ 516.2(c) softens the daily-hours item for employees working on fixed schedules. Instead of re-entering hours worked every day, the employer may record the schedule of daily and weekly hours the employee normally works and, in a week the employee adheres to that schedule, note it with a check mark, statement, or other method showing the hours were actually worked. Exact hours must be recorded only for a week in which more or less than the scheduled hours are worked. The twelve-item list still governs — this is a shortcut for showing compliance in the ordinary week, not an exemption from capturing hours actually worked in the unusual one.