It would be wise to refer to the statute before withholding anything from anyone’s paycheck other than federal income tax and Social Security payments. A listing of these authorized deductions can be found in RSA 275:48. Please be aware that there are very few legal deductions that the employer can make from an employee’s paycheck. On each payday, you must supply each employee with a written statement of any legitimate deductions made from his/her wages. You may pay by electronic fund transfer only if it is at no cost to the employee. You may pay by direct deposit but only if the employee agrees and gives you written authorization to make the deposit in a bank (or banks) of their choice. These wages must be paid by cash (United States currency) or by check drawn on banks convenient to the place of employment where suitable arrangements have been made for the cashing such checks by the employees for the full wage amount due.Įmployers often ask if they can mandate that employees accept their pay in the form of direct deposit. Your organization may petition the DOL Commissioner to allow you to pay wages less frequently (for example, bi-weekly for hourly employees or once a month for employees classified as salaried) provided you have no history of wage and hour violations and if the employees will not suffer any financial hardship by a decrease in pay frequency. State law (RSA 275:43) requires that every employer shall pay all wages due to employees within eight days, including Sunday, after expiration of the week in which the work is performed unless authorized by the DOL commissioner to pay less frequently. Do not destroy these records! You must be able to produce them, upon request, to a DOL representative. Therefore, it makes good sense to check time sheets to make sure they are accurate. If the employer does not keep written time records then, in addition to being subject to a penalty for violating the law, the DOL will give the benefit of the doubt to the employee in the event of any dispute. The employer must maintain these records of hours worked. An employer may not automatically exclude unpaid breaks (like a standard meal break) instead, the employee must record their actual time in and out when they go to an unpaid status. Time record changes not approved by the employee cannot be made. Employers are required to pay employees for all of the hours shown on their time record. In real life, the employer usually requires each employee to either punch a time clock or turn in a time sheet or log for each pay period. It is the responsibility of the employer, not the employee, to keep track of the number of hours worked. One of the most important New Hampshire wage and hour requirements is that every employer shall keep a true and accurate record of the names of workers employed by them, the number of hours worked by each and the amount of wages paid to them (RSA 279:27). In fact, if you violate some of these regulations, you may be found guilty of a misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of up to $2,000 and/or up to one year in jail per violation. Failure to comply may result in severe consequences to your organization. The New Hampshire Department of Labor (DOL) closely monitors and enforces New Hampshire’s state regulations. There are a plethora of wage and hour rules that can be confusing and sometimes overwhelming. The right of an employee to receive prompt and full payment of wages for hours worked has historically been considered a “sacred cow" that is protected by both federal and state statutes.
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