Our personnel manager went to a seminar and was told that FSLA requires "in and out" details on time sheets.

Traditionally, our time sheets just have a daily total. A laconic "8" not a detailed "8:00 am to 12:10 pm, 1:10 pm to 5:00 pm."

I do not doubt that details are better, but are they required by Federal law?

Problems seem to inevitably pop up when people return from seminars with "innovative" ideas. Regarding your specific question, the answer is "not really." The relevant regulation is 29 C.F.R. sec. 516.2(a). It provides:

(a) Items required. Every employer shall maintain and preserve payroll or other records containing the following information and data
with respect to each employee to whom section 6 or both sections 6 and 7(a) of the Act apply:
(1) Name in full, as used for Social Security recordkeeping purposes, and on the same record, the employee's identifying symbol or
number if such is used in place of name on any time, work, or payroll records,
(2) Home address, including zip code,
(3) Date of birth, if under 19,
(4) Sex and occupation in which employed (sex may be indicated by use of the prefixes Mr., Mrs., Miss., or Ms.) (Employee's sex identification is related to the equal pay provisions of the Act which are administered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Other equal pay recordkeeping requirements are contained in 29 CFR part 1620.)
(5) Time of day and day of week on which the employee's workweek begins (or for employees employed under section 7(k) of the Act, the starting time and length of each employee's work period). If the employee is part of a workforce or employed in or by an establishment all of whose workers have a workweek beginning at the same time on the same day, a single notation of the time of the day and beginning day of the workweek for the whole workforce or establishment will suffice,
(6)(i) Regular hourly rate of pay for any workweek in which overtime compensation is due under section 7(a) of the Act, (ii) explain basis of pay by indicating the monetary amount paid on a per hour, per day, per week, per piece, commission on sales, or other basis, and (iii) the amount and nature of each payment which, pursuant to section 7(e) of the Act, is excluded from the ``regular rate'' (these records may be in the form of vouchers or other payment data),
(7) Hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek (for purposes of this section, a ``workday'' is any fixed period of 24 consecutive hours and a ``workweek'' is any fixed and regularly recurring period of 7 consecutive workdays),
(8) Total daily or weekly straight-time earnings or wages due for hours worked during the workday or workweek, exclusive of premium overtime compensation,
(9) Total premium pay for overtime hours. This amount excludes the straight-time earnings for overtime hours recorded under paragraph (a)(8) of this section,
(10) Total additions to or deductions from wages paid each pay period including employee purchase orders or wage assignments. Also, in individual employee records, the dates, amounts, and nature of the items which make up the total additions and deductions,
(11) Total wages paid each pay period,
(12) Date of payment and the pay period covered by payment.

Thus, start of the workweek, total hours worked and how they're paid are the crux of the recordkeeping requirements. Of course, if litigation or an investigation by DOL ensues, greater detail in the records always is helpful in rebutting charges of accrued, but unpaid, overtime. The Wage and Hour section of DOL's website is helpful in reviewing employer obligations in this regard. It may be viewed at:

wage and hour home page

[This message was edited by Scott Brumley on 05-15-07 at .]