Physicians Practice Pearls: Don’t Let Overtime Take Over
By Owen Dahl I’m often asked how practices can control overtime pay. It’s so expensive.
Overtime pay is one and one half times the regular hourly rate, not two times or more. It is paid for hours worked in excess of 40 in a defined workweek — say, from 7 a.m. Monday until 6:59 a.m. the following Monday. Holiday, vacation, and sick leave do not qualify as hours worked and therefore do not result in overtime pay.
Salaried employees are exempt from overtime, but they must qualify for administrative or professional exemption status — usually 80 percent of their time has to be spent doing specific administrative or professional work. Any “comp” time granted for overtime must be given in the same week, which will then be recognized as normal pay.
So, how can you control the costs related to overtime? Here are some ideas. Continued...
