GNYADA April 2016 Newsletter

Tracking Workers’ Hours Helps AvoidWage Claims 16

aren’t always on dealership prem- ises — such as porters — you’ll want to arrange an electronic sys- tem they can use remotely, or have them submit a timesheet when they come by the store. If a submitted record of hours worked needs to be adjusted, it should be done in the same week — it’s far easier to make correc- tions within the pay week than at a future point. Any change should also be initialed by both the supervisor and the employee. There are circumstances where employees may be exempt from federal overtime, but still owed overtime pay under New York State law, and sign-in systems are important for documenting those instances. Never change an employee’s record of hours worked, without his or her knowledge.

But the law requires a record of hours actually worked.

Legal disputes over unpaid wages continue to make headlines, both inside and outside the automotive industry. Last month, Bloomberg L.P. agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle a class action brought by employees allegedly denied overtime pay. In addition, a New York federal court is currently reviewing a $5.5 million class action settlement brought by sales representatives from a local dealer group. Violations in that case also include unpaid overtime. These active claims against high-pro- file employers should serve as reminders about the importance of tracking employees' work hours thor- oughly and properly. Such records can be critical tools in defending against wage claims such as the ones mentioned above. To assure accurate employee time records, dealers should keep the following in mind: Work schedules are not time records. Schedules are put togeth- er in advance, to reflect hours an employee is supposed to work. n The New York State Department of Labor recently stated that 769,000 private-sector jobs have been added throughout the state since 2009. A further analysis conducted by Crain’s Business reported that the downstate region — and New York City in par- ticular — accounted for an over- whelming share of that job growth. Roughly 80%, in fact. GNYADA subsequently asked Auto Outlook to examine the numbers from the state’s job study, and to delve into what this employment 17

Employee contracts/company handbooks must be extremely clear regarding how hours are tracked. In the Bloomberg exam- ple, employees are able to docu- ment their own hours worked, based on when they entered/exited the office, when they were active at their stations, and even when they conducted work using their mobile phone. Related to the above bullet, deal- ers should be aware that computer logins and logouts are imperfect tracking methods. The method is vulnerable on both ends: a super- visor can give somebody duties before they login to their comput- er; or, a worker can login and then go grab a bagel. There is no universal system for recording workers’ hours, and dif- ferent departments can use differ- ent tracking methods. Technicians may be able to clock in and out of the shop; but, for employees who boom has meant for auto sales in our region. The resulting data spoke vol- umes, revealing a distinct parallel between job growth and vehicle sales. Auto Outlook estimates that 46,785 of the units sold by local new car deal- ers since 2009 are attributable to the employment increase. Their analysis showed that for each additional indi- vidual employed in the area, new car sales increased by 0.075 units; multi- plying that by the 623,800 jobs that were added in greater New York dur- ing that period brings us to the

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For any further questions regarding tracking hours worked, please contact the Association: 718.746.5900

Job Growth = Car Sales in Metro NY

46,785 figure. What all this amounts to, is that not only should dealers in our region take pride in the jobs they’ve personally helped to create; they should also be greatly encouraged by the effect that overall downstate employment has on their business.

GNYADA thanks Jeffrey A. Foltz, Editor of New York Auto Outlook, for his contributions to this article.

Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association • www.gnyada.com

The Newsletter • April 2016 9