Sample Timekeeping Form

Author: Brightmine Editorial Team

Employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are required to keep certain records for each nonexempt employee, including the hours worked each day and the total hours worked each workweek. Employers may use any timekeeping method they choose, as long as it is complete and accurate. The U.S. Department of Labor has offered the following form as an example of a timekeeping format that employers may follow.

As this sample format illustrates, employers are allowed to round employees' start or stop times to the nearest five-minute, six-minute or 15-minute increment, as long as overt time the practice does not have the effect of failing to fully compensate employees for all the time actually worked.

While the workweek in this sample format runs from Saturday to Sunday, employers are allowed to use any fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours, or seven consecutive 24-hour periods. The workweek does not need to coincide with the calendar week. The employer may choose the day and time the workweek begins. It may begin on any day and at any hour of the day. Once an employer establishes a workweek, the time period remains fixed.