Employers need a timekeeping system that manages time worked, vacation time, accruals, and other employee data. This is most crucial for hourly employees but is useful for salaried employees as well.
Tracking Employees’ Hours Worked
When you begin tracking time for hourly employees, ensure you are paying them fairly, and accurately tracking hours. Employees must have a minimum 30-minute meal break after six hours of work, and any overtime must be properly tracked.
While not essential, many employers also offer paid benefits, such as vacation time and holiday time. Whether essential or not, managing these aspects of hourly employees can be time-consuming.
Timekeeping Software
Software can help track hours for your hourly employees. Free time-tracking programs are available, although higher quality, affordable time-keeping apps and programs can also be used for employees in a wide range of industries and working environments.
Apps are now frequently used by employers to track their workers’ time, and often the usage fees are low. The best apps and software integrate effectively with your payroll system and automate processes so that you do not have to spend time entering time-keeping data into your payroll program.
Overtime in Indiana
Indiana state laws grant most hourly workers the right to a special pay rate for hours worked that exceed 40 hours per week. The Fair Labor Standards Act defines this as any seven successive workdays.
In most states, the laws outline a daily overtime limit that requires employers to provide overtime pay for employees who have worked for more than the stated limit. However, regulations regarding overtime in Indiana don’t specify a daily limit.
Indiana’s Overtime Minimum Wage
The minimum wage for overtime in Indiana is usually one and a half times the amount of a worker’s standard hourly wage. Based on the minimum wage rate of $7.25 for every regular hour worked, the minimum amount an employee makes per hour as overtime pay would be $10.88. Any amount beyond the minimum hourly wage should be multiplied by 1.5 to calculate overtime pay.
Notably, the state laws have special overtime regulations for service or retail businesses, transportation workers, hospital facilities, and personnel who earn based on a piece-by-piece approach.
Overtime Exceptions in Indiana
Whether state-specific or federal, overtime laws are designed to protect workers from exploitation by employers. Workers who are paid hourly and workers in blue-collar environments are the greatest beneficiaries of these laws.
Administrators, executives, and certain other salaried workers aren’t entitled to overtime pay under FLSA. The law also exempts external salespeople and some IT-related professionals that work on their own hours.
Independent contractors who aren’t legal employees, some transportation personnel, a section of live-in workers like housekeepers, and particular farm and agricultural staff are also not covered.
For more helpful tips, information and guidance on hiring your first employee, check out our full guide.
