april2021 - 10

THE LABOR LAW ADVISOR
OFF-THE-CLOCK WORK
In addition to employee misclassification, another cause of overtime
liability is the failure to pay for all
hours worked by an employee. In
most cases it involves preliminary
or postliminary functions that are
part of the employee's principal
activity. It is not uncommon for a
conscientious employee to engage
in preparations before punching in.
It could be setting up a machine,
gathering needed supplies for
the day's work, sorting through
daily work orders or production
schedules, or similar preparatory
functions. Similar activity can

occur at the end of the workday,
after the employee punches out.
It could involve completion of
production reports, a meeting
with employees coming on shift
about problem issues or similar
work-related activity.
In addition, modern business is
largely conducted through e-mail,
text, and similar electronic communication. Reliance on I-Pads,
I-Phones, and laptops can mean that
the workday is never really finished. If
a non-exempt employee spends time
completing a report or responding
to e-mails or texts before or after
regular work hours, there is potential

overtime liability being generated.
The circumstances that create liability are as varied as our
workplaces. If work is performed,
what is normally unpaid time would
become worktime necessary for
inclusion in properly calculating
overtime. Employers can avoid much
liability for off-the-clock work by
maintaining policies prohibiting offthe-clock work, requiring employees
to promptly report any unrecorded
work, and ensuring not to prevent
or discourage employees from
reporting any worktime. Employers
should prominently post notices
regarding these policies and should

also periodically remind employees
about them.
As these various examples make
evident, the potential for improper
pay exists in a wide variety of circumstances. Off-the-clock claims
are one of the most frequently filed
lawsuits employers confront, and
one the Biden DOL will target for
enforcement. By adopting proactive
policies and monitoring for potential
off-the-clock work by employees, the
risk of facing such lawsuits can be
drastically reduced. ■

■ GROW T H - ef fe c t ively g row
advisory services.
This two-pronged approach is
a reasonable path forward because
all the technological benefits have
resulted in increased efficiency. Technology changes provide opportunities
for increased capacity, but only if we
use them properly. Today, Advisory
is not a value-ADDED service. It is
a CORE service that is vital to the
future success of a firm. Did the
non-value-added services where we
provided clients advice in response
to questions provide no value? Of
course not! The term 'value-added
services' is a lazy and misleading
way of describing non-compliance
with 'valuable' services! When you
collaborate with clients, the value of
your advice increases. As additional
benefits, your client retention and
realization rise, too.

SO, WHAT CAN WE DO
TODAY?

CLIENT EXPERIENCE FOR TODAY
COLLABORATION IS THE NEW " MUST HAVE "
Continued From Page 7

These factors were simple,
familiar, reassuring, and reliable
and have led to what you could call
'The Busy Paradigm.' For many of us,
busy meant successful, and when you
charged per hour and clients accepted
this approach, it worked well, and you
don't see many poor accountants.
Billing by the hour and staying busy
continued merrily along until outside
forces started to intrude, in the form
of course, of the Digital Revolution.
Rather than providing accountants with leisure time, this IT
revolution seems to have resulted in
accountants working harder than ever
before and for marginally improved
earnings and results. In fact, in terms
of a new resilient business model
fit for the Digital Age, 'busy' could
be a four-letter word. A large firm's
very successful managing partner
describes " busy " as a gold badge not
to be worn as it is a " Fool's Gold " !

APRIL 2021 ■

The biggest threats are not future
changes driven by technology because
they will occur anyway. It's that while
firms are still doing well, accountants
will wait too long to strategically plan
forward and start to refine their business models to reflect what's coming
in this new collaborative digital world.
It's easy to get left behind when you
are doing well and are comfortable
with the status quo.
The future strategic change
is about going from a traditional
services model to a client-focused,
effective Advisory model. Of course,
efficiency and effectiveness are
not the same things. The strategic
answer for accountants appears to
be a simple two-pronged drive.
■ EFFICIENC Y - become hy perefficient with traditional compliance services using technology
and Cloud online accounting and
tax services.

www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

We must enable collaborative work.
While in the past, working together
was enabled because of hosting,
in the collaborative digital world,
this can be accomplished with
SaaS applications, running in silos,
connected with digital plumbing.
The connections have become more
reliable, robust, and secure, and
more are promised this year.
You'll see that throughout 2021
and beyond we'll discuss client and
team member experience because we
are too comfortable in our old ways
of doing things. Plus, our clients need
our help now more than ever. Now
is a time of improved collaboration,
where we can leverage financials,
relationships, and workflow. What
type of experience are you going to
create for you, your team, and your
clients? ■

http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

april2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of april2021