GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Department of

GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Department of Employment Services

MURIEL BOWSER

DEBORAH A. CARROLL

MAYOR

DIRECTOR

May 14, 2015

PURPOSE

Office of Wage and Hour requires hours worked to be reported for each employee on a quarterly

basis and in the quarter the wages are paid. This Standard Operating Procedure will provide

basic guidelines when recording and computing “hours worked” on forms and for information

purposes. This SOP is necessary to provide guidance to the employer community on the proper

treatment and reporting for hours worked across the broad spectrum of employment

classifications. It will help in the timely filing of contribution and wage reports.

AUTHORITY

The District of Columbia Department of Employment Services, Office of Wage and Hour

(OWH), is vested with the authority to require private employers to pay minimum wages,

overtime compensation and related benefits to employees.

DEFINITIONS

 Hour worked is any hour in which the covered employee is engaged in a work activity.

The actual number of hours worked by the employee for the quarter shall include paid

vacation and holiday hours.

 Wages includes all remuneration for personal services paid by an employer to an

employee. See D.C. Official Code § 51-101(3).

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Employers who track hours worked must use those records to determine actual hours and partial

hours worked. Whatever method is used to calculate workers´ withholdings must also be used

for the employer’s contributions, and vice versa. Do not use any other measure of time worked

such as “weeks.” Use whole numbers only, with no fractions or decimal amounts. Fractional

hours should be rounded to the next higher whole number. If there are no hours to report for the

quarter, enter “0.”

HOURS TO REPORT

Vacation pay:

Report the number of hours an employee is on paid leave. Do not report

payments made in place of vacation time as hours worked.

Sick leave pay:

Any payments to an employee under a qualified plan for sickness, accident

disability, insurance or annuities, medical or hospitalization expenses in

connection with sickness or accident disability, death or retirement are not

considered wages or compensation. Do not report these as hours or wages.

For payments under a nonqualified plan, report both wages and hours.

Overtime:

Report the number of hours actually worked for which overtime pay or

compensatory time is provided, without regard to the amount of wages or

compensation paid.

Commissioned

or piecework

employees:

Report the actual number of hours worked by employees paid by

commission or by piecework. If there are no reliable time keeping records,

report a full-time commissioned or piecework employee for 40 hours

worked for each week in which any of their duties were performed.

Wages in lieu

of notice:

When an employee is paid wages in lieu of notice of termination, report the

actual number of hours for which they were paid. Wages in lieu of notice of

termination pays the employee whose services have been terminated the

amount of wages they would have earned during the notice period.

Salaried

employees:

If a salaried employee works other than the regular 40-hour week, report the

actual number of hours worked.

Faculty

employees:

Faculty members of community and technical colleges must teach at least

15 classroom or laboratory hours to be considered full-time. A teaching

load of less than 15 hours of instruction is considered part-time. If there is

no reliable hourly information, report the hours of instruction as part-time

based on 15 credits as a full-time teaching load and 35 hours as full-time

employment for a week. For example, an instructor teaches twelve credits

per week. Twelve divided by fifteen equals eighty percent. Thirty-five

hours times eighty percent equals twenty-eight hours. The employer should

report the twenty-eight hours to DOES on the employer's quarterly tax and

wage report.

Severance

pay:

Do not report additional hours for severance pay. Report only the dollar

amount paid to the employee. Severance pay is taxable because it is based

on past service and compensates the employee upon job separation.

Payment in

kind

Report the actual hours worked for services rendered.

Bonuses, tips

and other

gratuities

Do not report additional hours for bonuses, tips or other gratuities if they

are received by an employee who is working regular hours if bonuses, tips

and gratuities are the only sources of compensation.

Fractions of

hours

If the employee's total number of hours for the quarter results in a fractional

amount, round the total to the next higher whole number.

Practice,

preparation,

and rehearsal

time

If an employee who is a performer or part of a performing group is paid for

a performance, but is also required by the employer to attend practice,

preparation, and rehearsal on an organized group basis, report the hours

spent in the required practice, preparation, and rehearsal as well as the

performance.

On-call and

standby hours

Do not report hours if an employee is paid for a shift of on-call or standby

hours in which the employee was not actually called in and did not perform

services. If the employee was called in or performed services, report the

hours actually worked. If the employer has no records of the number of

hours actually worked, report the duration of the shift up to eight hours per

day.

Training

hours and

orientation

If the employee is required by the employer to attend, include hours

attending orientation or training.

Part-time

workers

Either track actual hours worked, or use the appropriate fraction of the

appropriate flat rate to calculate hours worked. For example, for half-time

workers paid weekly or biweekly, use a flat rate of half of 40 hours per

week to calculate hours worked. For half-time workers paid monthly or

semi-monthly, use half or one-quarter of 173.33 hours per month as a flat

calculation. Document the calculation method.

Flat rate

versus

tracking of

hours

The flat rate cannot be used for any full- or part-time employee whose hours

are tracked. However, the employer is not required to use the same method

for every employee. For example, if hours are not tracked for full-time

workers but are tracked for part-time workers, use the flat rate for full-time

workers and the actual hours tracked for part-time workers.

Overtime

The flat rate may be used if the employer has no way to reasonably estimate

the overtime hours worked.

Pre-payments

If an employer pays by the hour before timesheets are collected, payment

must be calculated on base hours worked, with adjustments for overtime or

leave time made in the subsequent pay period. The assessment can be

calculated the same way. The assessment may be based on the base hours

assumed as worked during a pay period, and any adjustment to actual hours

worked may be used to calculate the assessment in the following pay

period.

EXCEPTIONS

Some employers are not required to track actual hours exclusively for purpose of calculating the

District’s wage and hour assessment. Such exceptions include employers of employees who are

paid on commission, paid "by the piece," or who work on an honor system. When hours are not

tracked, choose the method that ensures the most reasonable estimate of hours worked. Such

reasonably reliable methods would be the following:

• Employers who have information available showing hours worked, such as a contract,

should use this information to determine or estimate hours worked.

• Employers who estimate hours worked using a flat-rate calculation should use 173.33

hours per month, 40 hours per week, or 8 hours per day (prorated for part-time).

If any method other than tracking or the flat-rate calculation without adjustment is used to

determine a reasonable estimate of hours worked, the employer must record the method and

make the notation available in case of audit.