Let’s face it: there is no “typical” work week. Your dental staff has repeated tasks and procedures, but responsibilities vary week to week depending on patient demand and many other factors. This holds true for your employees, too. Ideally, your hygienists and front desk staff would all clock in and out at the end of their eight-hour day, not a second later.

Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. This is where it becomes important to know employee overtime rules. 

You can avoid employees working unplanned overtime by setting dental office goals and keeping a tight schedule. Dental Intelligence has some tips to share about that! 

Despite your best efforts, sometimes planning isn’t enough. Whether due to extra training, an increase in workload, or other factors, sometimes employees end up working more than the 40 hours they’re paid a week. When this happens, you have to compensate them fairly. 

What Is Overtime Pay?

Generally, the typical full-time employee works eight hours a day, which adds up to 40 hours a week. If an employee works more than that amount, they are entitled to overtime pay. You should evaluate the number of hours worked in excess and compensate the employee accordingly. 

Overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act helps create a healthy, fair work environment. Overworking your employees leads to burnout, which hurts your individual employee and your entire practice. By compensating employees for their extra hard work, they feel valued for their time and effort. 

Who Gets Paid Overtime?

Here, things get a little tricky. While most employees in a dental practice office are entitled to overtime pay when they work over 40 hours a week, some aren’t. These people are “exempt” employees. 

Employees who the law exempts from overtime have to meet a set of criteria. That criteria may vary depending on what state your dental practice resides in. Typically, this criteria involves a non-hourly salary and a higher position in the workplace. For example, the law considers some office managers and team leaders exempt from overtime pay based on their responsibilities and established salaries.

On the other hand, most hygienists, receptionists, and other staff qualify for overtime pay. Staff compensation can become expensive if you don’t keep a record of how many hours your staff members work.

How Does Overtime Work?

Even at the most efficient dental practices, sometimes overtime work is necessary. Eight hours always seems like a long time until you’re in the last hour of the day and staring at all the unfinished work. Other times, you’re implementing new protocols that require your staff to attend training in addition to their daily duties. 

Whether you planned for your employees to work overtime, or it was a result of a little office chaos, fair compensation is important. Overtime laws state that you should pay your employee time and a half for overtime hours. Although they work as a salaried employee, you should convert their salary into their equivalent hourly wage. 

Misconceptions about Overtime

Some common myths and misconceptions conflict with employee overtime rules. 

For example, paying an employee a higher salary than the average for their position and experience doesn’t mean you don’t have to offer overtime pay. Unless they meet the qualifications to be an exempt employee, they still deserve overtime when working over 40 hours a week. 

Similarly, any bonuses your employees earn throughout the year do not count as overtime pay. Overtime compensation is separate from other increases in compensation.

Another common misconception is that some non-exempt employees can waive their right to overtime pay. This is untrue — you must pay an employee entitled to overtime pay for any hours worked over 40 hours in one week. 

Keep Detailed Employee Timesheets

Accurate records are essential when tracking employee hours. Having a system that makes it easy for employees to clock in and out, not just at the beginning and end of their days but throughout it, is essential. Keeping a digital record of the hours in a workweek makes this process simpler.

Digital Tools to Help You Run a Streamlined Practice

Understanding overtime rules is important, and overtime costs can quickly add up if you aren’t careful. Resources like the employee retention credit exist to assist your practice by reducing your tax burden.

Paying employees fairly isn’t just a technical issue but an ethical one. Knowing employee overtime rules helps shape a fair working environment at your dental practice. To learn about digital solutions for dental practices, like Team Chat and Virtual Check-In to save your staff time, schedule a demo today with Dental Intelligence.