Infrequent and insignificant periods of time beyond the scheduled working hours, which cannot as a practical matter be precisely recorded for payroll purposes, may be disregarded. Such periods of time are de minimis. This rule applies only where there are uncertain and indefinite periods of time involved, a few seconds or minutes in duration, and where the failure to count such time is justified by industry realities. While it is difficult to include all instances that might be considered as de minimis, the following examples are provided for clarification:
- Merely thinking about work during off shift hours. However, an employee will be paid for work authorized and assigned during off shift hours that require developing, researching, and assessing work related tasks.
- Checking work related email or voice mail for a few minutes a few times per day when not assigned to perform these tasks. Checking work related email for more than a few minutes a few times per day is considered hours worked and must be approved by a supervisor in advance. The best practice is to record time spent checking email to determine if it is de minimis.
- Returning from a lunch period a few seconds or minutes early.
- Leaving the worksite at the end of the shift for the workday and immediately returning to the worksite to retrieve a forgotten item.
- After clocking in, an employee transports his/her tools to a job site for a few minutes and then informs the supervisor of an illness without performing work or clocking out.