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Keep Your Company Compliant in September: Minimum Wage and Overtime Rules

Posted By: Guardian HR Staff

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Sept Compliance Calendar

Monthly Compliance - September

If you’re in HR, you’re no stranger to compliance management, forms, and deadlines—though keeping them all in order may be a different story. We want to be sure you’re equipped with the right information to keep everything on track throughout the year, from ADA to FLSA.
That’s why we put together the HR compliance calendar, to bring you an important list of dates and deadlines you need to know to keep your workplace on track.
In this month’s compliance calendar, you’ll find the key topics to keep your Company up-to-date including employee awareness and required or recommended training.
* Monthly Compliance Webinars – A monthly webinar with a Compliance Consultant to guide you through HR compliance tasks and topics. Reach out to your dedicated HR Manager to find out how to register for the monthly Compliance Calendar Webinar!

September

Exemptions and Overtime

Labor Day – First Monday in September

Important Dates and Deadlines for this Month

September 30

  • End of Q3, calendar year. *
  • The VETS-4212 Report is due for Federal contractors and subcontractors.

Labor Law Updates

September 7

  • Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Human Relations Ordinance Takes Effect. Ordinance No. 2026-11. Effective September 7, 2026, Luzerne County’s Human Relations Ordinance will apply to employers with one or more employees and prohibit discrimination based on covered characteristics, including traits historically associated with race or religious practices. It also restricts disability-related and salary-history inquiries, limits pre-employment background checks and consideration of unrelated criminal convictions, and imposes related hiring requirements.

September 10

Effective September 10, 2026, covered Minnesota nursing home employers must pay covered nursing home employees at least $19.00 per hour, with higher minimum rates of $22.50 for certified nursing assistants, $23.50 for trained medication aides, and $27.00 for licensed practical nurses.

September 12

Effective September 12, 2026, Arizona’s qualified marketplace contractors law will clarify that a contract between a qualified marketplace contractor and a contracting organization may be terminated without cause when the agreement expressly permits either party to terminate on reasonable notice, or when the contractor unilaterally provides the organization with reasonable notice.

Effective September 12, 2026, Arizona expands qualifying military leave to include military training, replacing the prior, narrower coverage for attending camps, maneuvers, formations, or armory drills.

September 18

Effective September 18, 2026, New York requires general hospitals to maintain at least one off-duty law enforcement officer or trained security personnel on-site at all times, with hospitals in cities or counties of one million or more required to station the individual in the emergency department and hospitals in smaller jurisdictions required to prioritize physical presence near or in close proximity to the emergency department.

September 21

  • Federal Contractors: Section 503 Amendments Take Effect. 91 FR 54482.

Effective September 21, 2026, federal contractors subject to Section 503 disability affirmative-action requirements are no longer required to solicit disability self-identification from applicants or employees, retain disability-related applicant and hiring data, or assess disability representation against the former 7% utilization goal.

September 30

  • Florida Minimum Wage Increases to $15.00.  Amendment 2.

Topics to Discuss and/or Review

  • Review employees’ classifications. For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folder, “Exempt vs. Non-Exempt” and the folder, “Independent Contractor.”
    • Ensure employees are correctly designated as exempt or nonexempt under FLSA.
    • Ensure compliance for full-time and part-time determination under the standards of the ACA, (full-time is an average of 30 hours in a workweek).
    • Determine what types of employees the Company has. (i.e. if any temporary, seasonal, on-call, etc.).
    • Make sure Independent contractors’ (ICs) are appropriately classified. Certain States, like California have different rules, please check for your state. For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folder, “Exempt vs. Non-Exempt.”
  • Review Employee hours and wages. For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folder, “Compensation and Payroll.”
    • Check to see if Company is complying with federal, state, and/or local laws for minimum wage requirements. For clients with access to the Forms Library, see the document, “Minimum Wage Rates by State and Municipality” in the “Compensation and Payroll” > “State laws” > “Compensation and Payroll Information By State Spreadsheets” folder.
    • Make sure working time is being documented and discuss with employees if any discrepancies exist. (Check time waiting, on-call, standby time, comp time, traveling on the job, etc.)
    • Review any time rounding policies (if applicable)
    • Ensure employees schedules, hours, workweeks and shifts are clearly defined.
    • Ensure FLSA and State compliance for employment of minors. (State laws vary).
    • Review employees’ commissions pay (if applicable).
  • Check for tip compensation and reporting requirements. For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folder, “Compensation and Payroll”, specifically the folder, “Tips”.
  • Review overtime rates and check Federal and State law for any variations. For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folder, “Overtime”, specifically the document, “Overtime Requirements by State”
    • Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a covered employer must pay nonexempt employees’ overtime for all hours worked beyond a certain number of hours, usually 40 in a workweek. Employees must be paid for overtime hours at one and one-half times their regular rate of pay.
    • The FLSA applies to employees working in any U.S. state, the District of Columbia, or any U.S. territory or possession. Employees who work for certain businesses or organizations (enterprises) are covered by the FLSA.
    • Some states have also enacted overtime laws. Where an employee is subject to both the state and Federal overtime laws, the employee is entitled to overtime according to the higher standard (i.e., the standard that will provide the higher rate of pay).
    • All employers covered by the FLSA must post a notice in a conspicuous place in all of their establishments where employees can readily read it.
  • Define workweek/workday for purposes of overtime.
    • An employee's workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours -- seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It need not coincide with the calendar week, but may begin on any day and at any hour of the day. Different workweeks may be established for different employees or groups of employees. Averaging of hours over two or more weeks is not permitted. Normally, overtime pay earned in a particular workweek must be paid on the regular pay day for the pay period in which the wages were earned.
    • State law may also require defining the workday if there is a daily overtime requirement. For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folder, “Overtime” in the subfolder “Overtime Information by State”. See also the 50-state chart, “Overtime Variations by State”.
      • For example, in California a workday is a consecutive 24-hour period beginning at the same time each calendar day, but it may begin at any time of day. The beginning of an employee’s workday need not coincide with the beginning of that employee’s shift, and an employer may establish different workdays for different shifts. However, once a workday is established it may be changed only if the change is intended to be permanent and the change is not designed to evade overtime obligations. Daily overtime is due based on the hours worked in any given workday; and the averaging of hours over two or more workdays is not allowed. If an employer does not establish a workday starting time, the workday is considered to last from 12:01 a.m. to midnight.
  • Determine employees’ regular rate of pay; see Fact Sheet #56A, & DOL on Regular Rate Calculation FAQs.
    • The regular rate of pay is determined by dividing an employee's total compensation in any workweek (other than a few specific forms of compensation that may be excluded) by the total number of hours worked. It is an hourly rate of pay. Compensation may include an employee's hourly wages, salary, commissions or other forms of pay. An employee may have different regular rates of pay during different workweeks. The regular rate of pay may not be less than the minimum wage.
    • Exclusions from the regular rate under FLSA:
      • Gifts and payments in the nature of gifts on special occasions
      • Payments for occasional periods when no work is performed due to vacation, holidays, or illness; reimbursable business expenses; and other similar payments
      • Discretionary Bonuses; see Fact Sheet #56C.
      • Profit-sharing plans
      • Employer Contributions to Benefit Plans
      • Premium Payments for Non-FLSA Overtime
      • Stock Options, See Fact Sheet #56
    • General Principles:
      • All compensation for hours worked, services rendered, or performance must be included in the regular rate.
      • When a payment is a wage supplement, even if not directly related to employee performance or hours worked, it is still compensation for “hours of employment” and must be included in the regular rate.
      • The determination of whether a particular payment, perk, or benefit may be excluded from the regular rate is made on a case-by-case basis applying the requirements set out in the statute to the specific circumstances.
  • Define hours worked. For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folder, “Overtime”, specifically the document, “Fact Sheet #22 - Hours Worked Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)”
    • In general, hours worked includes all time an employee must be on duty, or on the employer's premises or at any other prescribed place of work. Also included is any additional time the employee is suffered or permitted (i.e., allowed) to work.
  • Determine how to calculate how much overtime an employee is owed.
    • This calculation can be as simple as multiplying the number of hours worked over 40 in a workweek by 1 1/2 times the regular rate of pay. It can also be more complex, such as when shift work, bonuses or semi-monthly payrolls are involved, or when there are other arrangements for employees whose workweeks fluctuate.
    • Review the following documents, found in the Forms Library in the Overtime Folder:
      • “How to Calculate How Much Overtime an Employee Is Owed”
      • “FLSA Overtime Pay Requirements “
      • “Calculating Overtime When a Nonexempt Employee Is Paid a Salary”
      • “Computing Overtime Pay with two pay rates”
      • “How to Calculate Bonuses into a Regular Rate of Pay for Overtime Purposes”, “How to Calculate Overtime Rates for Shift Differentials”
      • “Fact Sheet #82 Fluctuating Workweek Method of Computing Overtime Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and “Bonus Rule” Final Rule”
      • “DOL Opinion Letter FLSA2020-14 - Fluctuating workweek Overtime “
      • “How is overtime pay affected when employees are paid double for working on a holiday or are paid a premium to do so”
      • “How to Calculate Overtime on a Semi-Monthly Pay Period”.
      • “Overtime Variations by State”
  • Review when Overtime Payments must be made to an employee.
    • Under Federal requirements, Overtime compensation must be paid on the regular payday for the period in which such workweek ends or as soon as practicable after the regular pay period if the correct payment amount cannot be determined immediately.
    • Check State law for any additional Overtime payment requirements. For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folders, “Compensation & Payroll” > “Compensation and Payroll Information By State Spreadsheets” specifically the document, “Pay Frequency and Lag Time Requirements by State and Municipality”
  • Discuss common issues affecting Overtime Pay.
    • Alternative Workweek Schedules – Some compressed workweek schedules, such as nine, nine-hour days with one day off every other week, result in overtime hours during one of the two weeks of a biweekly pay period. In all alternative workweeks schedules it is important to consider State daily overtime pay requirements may still apply and need to be considered in the overtime calculations. For clients with access to the Forms Library, references to this section can be found in the folders, “Overtime” > “Alternative Workweek”
    • Overlapping Workweeks - Each workweek stands alone when determining overtime pay requirements for nonexempt employees. There may be circumstances when an employee's hours are attributed to two different workweeks.
    • Identifying Hours Worked - Travel time, on-call time and training time are all hours that need to be counted toward hours worked when determining overtime pay.
    • Recording Hours Worked - The hours-worked recordkeeping onus is on the employer, not the employee. While employers often require employees to track and report all hours worked, failure to do so does not relieve an employer of the duty to pay the employee.
    • Exemptions from Overtime - Some positions may be exempt from overtime pay requirements based on the payment of a minimum salary and certain job duties.

Tips

More information in reference to the topics discussed in this month’s compliance calendar can be found in our comprehensive online Forms Library, which is available to members 24/7.
Note: This calendar is designed to help our clients review the key human resources-related reporting and notice requirements that may apply to their organizations. Please note that this list is for general reference purposes only and is not all-inclusive. Many of the compliance requirements are complex ERISA or other statutory legal filings and responsibilities may vary depending on your company’s plans. We encourage you to consult with your insurance brokers, plan administrators and/or your ERISA and tax advisors for further guidance.
For the most current information on certain tax-related or benefit-related documents or forms provided by the IRS, or other sources, please check with a tax professional, benefit professional and/or the correlating websites (i.e. irs.gov/LatestForms, etc.).