Can I limit the amount of hours a part-time employee works in a week?

Short Answer

The Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA)doesn’t have a specific definition of part-time employment. Rather, it is left to employers to determine how many hours employees work each week.

In-Depth Discussion

Because it’s up to you to set a part-time employee’s hours, it’s also up to you to establish a protocol for violations of those hours.

Your first step is to make sure that expectations and ground rules about working beyond those set hours are clearly communicated so that there can be no misunderstandings. It’s appropriate to discuss this verbally and in writing with your employees. For example, the employee handbook could contain such information, and it could be discussed during onboarding.

If your employee continues to work over their scheduled hours, you might want to make sure you have a disciplinary policy included in your employee handbook that covers this situation. Then, it’s just a matter of following your company policy to determine how to handle the situation.

Conclusion

When you set a part-time employee’s hours be sure to clearly communicate both verbally and in writing that working over those hours is unacceptable. Then, if the problem continues, you can simply proceed with your company’s disciplinary policy.

Helpful Links:

Part-time Employment Work Hours – DOL.gov – US Department of Labor’s Explanation of Part-time Employment

Reference Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act – DOL.gov – US Department of Labor’s Handy Reference Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act