Legal Question in Employment Law in Arkansas

Questions about working in day care

My first question involves clocking in and out for our scheduled time at the daycare I work at. We are scheduled to be at work at a certain time. Many times we arrive at work and are then told that we cannot clock in until more kids get there. We cannot leave, so we must stay until they let us clock in. I am also concerned about state required class time. I have heard that we are supposed to be paid for this, and we are not. We have four centers that are owned by the same individuals. We are often asked to work at a center that we do not usually work at and when we do this we are paid separately instead of overtime. We were also wanting to clear up whether or not we were legally able to work with children for more than 10 hours in one day. I question these practices and would like information on these questions. Thank you so much.


Asked on 10/20/06, 7:30 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alan Crone Crone & McEvoy, PLC

Re: Questions about working in day care

Thank you for your question.

1. You are supposed to be paid for any time you are working or are required to be at work. This "off the clock" time should be paid.

2. If the day care centers have common owners they cannot avoid overtime by paying you separately. If you work more than 40 hours in one work week you are in entitled to overtime payments.

3. I do not know about Arkansas law on day care, but your concern does seem to be vaild about working more than 10 hours with children, however most state laws do not regulate day care to that extent.

You should contact an attorney as soon as possible to look into these overtime and off the clock issues. You and your co-workers seem to have very good claims. If you would like more overtime related information please visit my website on overtime at www.overtimepaylaw.us.

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Answered on 10/20/06, 10:00 am


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