Hours worked
North Dakota law requires employers to pay employees for all hours worked; however, North Dakota does not provide a general definition of the term. Specific situations involving hours worked issues are discussed below.
Workweek
North Dakota’s law defines a workweek as any consecutive seven-day period as established by the employer. ND Admin. Code 46-02-07-01(22).
Waiting time
North Dakota law does not require employers to count time employees spend waiting to be engaged as hours worked for purposes of its minimum wage and overtime requirements if the employees are on call and not required to remain on the employer’s premises, but are required to respond to a text message, phone call or beeper or leave word at home or the employer’s business where they may be reached. ND Admin. Code 46-02-07-02(5)
North Dakota laws do not address when employers must count time spent by employees waiting in other situations as hours worked for purposes of its minimum wage and overtime requirements. The standards set forth by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act regarding waiting time may provide reasonable guidance.
On-call time
North Dakota law requires employers to count time an employee spends on-call as hours worked for purposes of its minimum wage and overtime requirements if the employees are required to remain on the employer’s premises or so close to the employer’s premises that the employees are unable to use the time effectively for their own purposes. North Dakota refers to this time as be engaged to wait. ND Admin. Code 46-02-07-02(5)
Employers do not need to count on-call time as hours worked if employees are only required to leave word as to where they can be reached and are not required to stay on the employer’s premises. North Dakota refers to this time as waiting to be engaged. ND Admin. Code 46-02-07-02(21)
Sleeping time
In North Dakota, if employers require employees to be on duty for twenty-four (24) hours or more, the employers and employees may agree to exclude bona fide meal periods and bona fide regularly scheduled sleeping periods of not more than eight (8) hours from hours worked for purposes of minimum wage and overtime requirements as long as 1) the employers provide adequate sleeping facilities and 2) the employees can usually enjoy an uninterrupted sleeping period.
Even if agreed upon sleeping periods last more than eight (8) hours, employers may only deduct eight (8) hours from the employees’ hours worked. If sleeping periods are interrupted by calls to duty, the time spent working during the interruptions must be counted as hours worked. If the sleeping periods are interrupted to such an extent that the employees cannot get reasonable nights’ sleep, the entire sleeping period must be counted as hours worked. ND Admin. Code 46-02-07-02(9)
North Dakota laws do not address any other situations when employers must count time spent by employees sleeping as hours worked for purposes of its minimum wage and overtime requirements. The standards set forth by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act regarding sleeping time may provide reasonable guidance.
Travel time
North Dakota’s law requires employers to count the following time spent by employees traveling as hours worked for purposes of it minimum wage and overtime requirements:
- travel during an employee’s regular work hours;
- travel on the employee’s non-work days during the employee’s regular work hours;
- travel from job site to job site or from the office to job site;
- time a driver spends traveling when required by the employer;
- time spent as a driver or passenger on one-day travel assignments as required by the employer.
Employers are not required to count the following travel time as hours worked:
- typical commuting time to and from work;
- time spent outside of regular working hours as a passenger on an airplane, train, bus, or automobile;
- travel for incidental activities in a vehicle provided by the employer for commuting home to work.
ND Admin. Code 46-02-07-02(7) .
Meeting, lecture, and training time
North Dakota’s law requires employers to count time spent attending meetings, lectures, and training as hours worked for purposes of it overtime and minimum wage requirements unless the following four criteria are met:
- attendance for such activities are outside of the employee’s regular working hours;
- attendance for such activities is fact voluntary;
- the activity is not directly related to the employee’s job;
- employee does not perform any productive work while attending such activities.
An employer does not need to count any training or education mandated by the state, federal government, or any political subdivision for a specific occupation as hours worked.
ND Admin. Code 46-02-07-02(6).
Show up or reporting time
North Dakota law does not require employers to pay employees for reporting or showing up to work if no work is performed. An employer is also not required to pay an employee a minimum number of hours if the employer dismisses the employee from work prior to completing their scheduled shift. Employers are only required to pay employees for hours actually worked.
