C.F.R. » Title 29 » CHAPTER V—WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR › SUBCHAPTER A—REGULATIONS › PART 516—RECORDS TO BE KEPT BY EMPLOYERS › Subpart A—General Requirements

29 C.F.R. § 516.2

Employees subject to minimum wage or minimum wage and overtime provisions pursuant to section 6 or sections 6 and 7(a) of the Act

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(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.

(b) Records of retroactive payment of wages. Every employer who makes retroactive payment of wages or compensation under the supervision of the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division pursuant to section 16(c) and/or section 17 of the Act, shall:

(1) Record and preserve, as an entry on the pay records, the amount of such payment to each employee, the period covered by such payment, and the date of payment.

(2) Prepare a report of each such payment on a receipt form provided by or authorized by the Wage and Hour Division, and (i) preserve a copy as part of the records, (ii) deliver a copy to the employee, and (iii) file the original, as evidence of payment by the employer and receipt by the employee, with the Administrator or an authorized representative within 10 days after payment is made.

(c) Employees working on fixed schedules. With respect to employees working on fixed schedules, an employer may maintain records showing instead of the hours worked each day and each workweek as required by paragraph (a)(7) of this section, the schedule of daily and weekly hours the employee normally works. Also,

(1) In weeks in which an employee adheres to this schedule, indicates by check mark, statement or other method that such hours were in fact actually worked by him, and

(2) In weeks in which more or less than the scheduled hours are worked, shows that exact number of hours worked each day and each week.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 238 cases (86 in the last 5 years), 1958–2026 · leading case: Chao v. Vidtape, Inc.
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Chao v. Vidtape, Inc. (2002) nyed · cites it 8× “See 29 C.F.R. 516.2. Payroll records indicate that instead of establishing a work week, the employees were paid twice a month, on approximately a fifteen day pay period.”
Edward Monroe v. FTS USA, LLC (2017) ca6 · cites it 2× “§ 211 (c); 29 C.F.R. § 516.2 (a)(7). Once the employees satisfy their relaxed burden for establishing the extent of uncompensated work, “[t]he burden then shifts to the employer to come forward with evidence of the precise amount of work performed or with evidence to negative…”
Josendis v. Wall to Wall Residence Repairs, Inc. (2011) ca11 · cites it 2× “29 C.F.R. § 516.2 [(requiring employers to “maintain and preserve payroll or other 28 records” pertaining to employees covered by the FLSA)] relating to all employees.”
U.S. Dep't of Labor v. Fire & Safety Investigation Consulting Servs., LLC (2019) ca4 · cites it 4× “" 29 C.F.R. § 516.2 (a)(7). The FLSA's recordkeeping provisions are vital in ensuring employer compliance with the statute.”
Margaret White v. Baptist Memorial Health Care Co. (2012) ca6 · cites it 2× “§ 211 (c) (requiring that employers “shall make, keep, and preserve” records of every employee’s hours); see also 29 C.F.R. § 516.2 (a). As Judge Friendly once put it long ago: The obligation [to pay overtime under the FLSA] is the employer’s and it is absolute.”
Sullivan v. PJ United, Inc. (2018) alnd · cites it 5× “Those records include basic information such as the employee's name in full, home address, date of birth, sex, time of day, and day of week on which the employee's workweek begins.”
Doo Nam Yang v. ACBL CORP. (2005) nysd · cites it 2× “§ 211 (c); see also 29 C.F.R. § 516.2 . [1] When an employer has not kept such records, an employee suing for lost wages under the FLSA may carry his burden by submitting "sufficient evidence from which violations of the [FLSA] and the amount of an award may be reasonably…”
James Olson v. Superior Pontiac-Gmc, Inc. (1985) ca11 · cites it 3× “§ 211 and 29 C.F.R. § 516.2 (1984); and (2) Superior was exonerated from liability due to its good faith attempt to conform with the handbook’s interpretation of the minimum wage law.”
Acosta v. Jani-King of Okla., Inc. (2018) ca10 “The FLSA gives the Secretary authority to investigate employers' compliance with these recordkeeping requirements and to seek injunctive relief against employers who violate those provisions of the Act. See 29 U.”
Schwind v. EW & Associates, Inc. (2005) nysd · cites it 2× “” See also 29 C.F.R. §§ 516.2 , 516.3. The regulations explicitly state that an employer must record, inter alia, “[hjours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek.”
Viciedo v. New Horizons Computer Learning Center of CoLumbus, Ltd. (2003) ohsd · cites it 3× “In particular, the Plaintiffs state that the Defendant is not entitled even to partial summary judgment because the Defendant failed to maintain the following records: (1) The number of hours the Plaintiffs worked each day, as required by 29 C.F.R. § 516.2 ; (2) The number of…”
Jennifer Jenkins v. S. David Anton, PA (2019) ca11 “See 29 C.F.R. § 516.2 (a)(7). When an employer fails to keep accurate and adequate records, Anderson says that "an employee has carried out his burden if he proves that he has in fact performed work for which he was improperly compensated and if he produces sufficient evidence…”
Show all 238 citing cases →
— 29 C.F.R. § 516.2(10) — 1 case
Callier v. Outokumpu Stainless USA, LLC (2024) alsd
— 29 C.F.R. § 516.2(a) — 2 cases
W. Willard Wirtz, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor v. Kenneth Williams, D/B/A Williams Sand & Grave (1966) ca5
Su v. Spearman, Inc. (2024) mdd
— 29 C.F.R. § 516.2(a)(4) — 1 case
Chao v. Vidtape, Inc. (2002) nyed “See 29 C.F.R. 516.2. Payroll records indicate that instead of establishing a work week, the employees were paid twice a month, on approximately a fifteen day pay period.”
— 29 C.F.R. § 516.2(a)(5) — 1 case
Chao v. Vidtape, Inc. (2002) nyed “See 29 C.F.R. 516.2. Payroll records indicate that instead of establishing a work week, the employees were paid twice a month, on approximately a fifteen day pay period.”
— 29 C.F.R. § 516.2(a)(6) — 2 cases
Chao v. Vidtape, Inc. (2002) nyed “See 29 C.F.R. 516.2. Payroll records indicate that instead of establishing a work week, the employees were paid twice a month, on approximately a fifteen day pay period.”
Walsh v. Independent Home Care Of Michigan, LLC. (2022) mied
— 29 C.F.R. § 516.2(a)(6)(i) — 1 case
Walsh v. Independent Home Care Of Michigan, LLC. (2022) mied
— 29 C.F.R. § 516.2(a)(7) — 4 cases
Chao v. Vidtape, Inc. (2002) nyed “See 29 C.F.R. 516.2. Payroll records indicate that instead of establishing a work week, the employees were paid twice a month, on approximately a fifteen day pay period.”
Hodgson v. KATZ AND BESTHOFF, 38, INC. (1973) lawd
Walsh v. Independent Home Care Of Michigan, LLC. (2022) mied
W. Willard Wirtz, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor v. Kenneth Williams, D/B/A Williams Sand & Grave (1966) ca5
— 29 C.F.R. § 516.2(a)(8) — 1 case
Chao v. Vidtape, Inc. (2002) nyed “See 29 C.F.R. 516.2. Payroll records indicate that instead of establishing a work week, the employees were paid twice a month, on approximately a fifteen day pay period.”
— 29 C.F.R. § 516.2(a)(9) — 1 case
Chao v. Vidtape, Inc. (2002) nyed “See 29 C.F.R. 516.2. Payroll records indicate that instead of establishing a work week, the employees were paid twice a month, on approximately a fifteen day pay period.”
— 29 C.F.R. § 516.2(c)(1) — 1 case
U.S. Dep't of Labor v. Fire & Safety Investigation Consulting Servs., LLC (2019) ca4 “" 29 C.F.R. § 516.2 (a)(7). The FLSA's recordkeeping provisions are vital in ensuring employer compliance with the statute.”
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