Even in the 21st century there are many misconceptions about what is actually required to pay employees correctly under federal and state wage and hour laws. There are some who absolutely know that it is illegal to force exempt employees to record their time (it is not) or that if you pay an employee for a holiday it must be included in the calculation for overtime under the law (it does not). Others are convinced that if they have a firm policy in place that states emphatically that overtime must be approved in advance or it will not be paid is perfectly legal not to pay the overtime (it is not).

• Weekly overtime is the only OT employers need to worry about (federal law always supersedes state law)
• The workweek is whatever the company defines it as and it can be changed as the need arises
• The employer gets to decide what is worked time
• Employees do not have to be paid for sleep, travel time or other type of "unproductive time"
• Employees have the option to skip meal periods or breaks
• Benefit time such as holiday, sick or vacation pay must be included in the computation of overtime
• Only hourly employees are paid overtime
• Exempt employee cannot be forced to punch a time clock. If they did their hours exceeding 40 would be considered overtime
• An exempt employee working in an hourly position does not have to be paid overtime
• Overtime not approved in advance does not have to be paid

• Payroll Professionals
• Human Resources
• Accounting Personnel
• Business Owners
• Lawmakers
• Attorneys, or any individual or entity that must deal with the complexities and technicalities of ensuring compliance within the payroll process

Even in the 21st century payroll professionals and others who are responsible for processing payroll can have misconceptions about what is and is not required under wage and hour law. These misconceptions can stem from anywhere about any facet of law. Perhaps the payroll professional received improper training under a previous supervisor when it came to calculating overtime. Possibly they were told that exempt employees cannot record their time without losing their exempt status. Maybe they have always been under the impression that overtime must be approved in advance or it doesn’t have to be paid because that has always been the policy where they have worked. It doesn’t really matter where the misconception stems from. What matters is that the misconception is debunked and the proper information is received.