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The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recording keeping, and child labor standards affecting full-time and part-time workers. The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor administers and enforces FLSA provisions. Under the broadest definitions of interstate commerce, all employers are required to comply.
Under FLSA provisions, all work must be paid. Work not requested but permitted to be performed is work time that must be paid for by the employer. For example, an employee may voluntarily continue to work at the end of the shift to finish an assigned task. The reason is immaterial. The hours are work time and must be compensated.
An employee’s workday is defined as the period in one day between the time when the employee commences their principal activity and the time when they stop that activity. An employee who is eating at their desk while answering the phone is working and must be compensated for that time.