Indiana Employment Law

Employees working in Indiana are subject to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

Normal working hours shall not exceed more than 40 hours a week.

The Fair Labor Standards Act defines the workweek as a fixed and recurring period of 168 hours comprising seven consecutive 24-hour periods that do not need to coincide with the calendar week. It is adjustable only if the change is designed to be permanent. Each week is considered on its own to calculate overtime. The hours of two or more weeks may not be averaged.

Recording Requirement – An employer shall keep and preserve, for at least 3 years payroll or other records containing the following information and data with respect to each employee:

• • Name in full and, on the same record, the employee’s identifying symbol or number if such is used in place of name on any time, work, or payroll records. This shall be the same name as that used for Social Security record purposes.
  • Home address, including zip code.
  • Date of birth, if under 19 years of age.
  • Sex and occupation in which employed (sex may be indicated by use of the prefixes, Mr., Mrs., Ms., or Miss).
  • Total daily or weekly straight-time earnings or wages, that is, the total earnings or wages due for hours worked during the work day or work week, including all earnings or wages due during any overtime worked, but exclusive of overtime excess compensation.
  • time of day and day of week on which the employee’s work period begins. If the employee is part of a workforce or employed in or by an establishment all of whose workers have a work week beginning at the same time on the same day, a single notation of the time of the day and beginning day of the work week for the whole workforce or establishment will suffice. If, however, any employee or group of employees has a work week beginning and ending at a different time, a separate notation shall then be kept for that employee or group of employees.
  • Hours worked each work day and total hours worked each work week.
  • Overtime work
  • Total additions to or deductions from wages paid each pay period. Every employer making additions to or deductions from wages shall also maintain, in individual employee accounts, a record of the dates, amounts, and nature of the items that make up the total additions and deductions.
  • Total wages paid each pay period.
  • Date of payment and the pay period covered by the payment.

Any work performed beyond  40 hours in a work week is considered overtime work.

Pay – An employee is entitled to premium pay at the rate of 1.5 times their regular rate for all hours worked excess in a workweek.

Employers are not legally required to provide breaks or meal periods to their employees under either the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or Indiana law. It’s common for employers to provide short breaks lasting from 5 to 20 minutes. According to the FLSA, employees must be compensated during short breaks, but employers aren’t obligated to pay for meal periods lasting 30 minutes or more, provided that employees are free to use this time as they wish and aren’t required to work during it.

Under the FLSA, an employee who takes a break that is 20 minutes or less must be paid for their break time at their normal rate. This includes meal, religious, health, and most likely restroom breaks as long as the break is under 20 minutes. An employer does not have to pay an employee for a break if: 

• • • the break is longer than 20 minutes; and
    • the employee is relieved of all work during the break. 

No Penalty for Missing Break as per law

Breast Feeding Break

All employers with twenty-five or more employees must, to the extent reasonably possible, provide a private location, other than a toilet stall, where an employee can express milk during any time away from the employee’s assigned duties. Such employers must also, to the extent reasonably possible, provide a cold storage space for employees to keep expressed milk, or allow employees to provide their own portable refrigerator for such a purpose.