Is Your Child Care Center a Target For a Federal Audit?

At the recent National Child Care Association Conference in Las Vegas, presenter Kathy Cronemiller, offered an Assessment Tool  for quickly finding out whether your child care center is a potential target for a Federal audit.  The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division produced this tool, but does not require you to use it.  However, these 15 simple questions might keep you from having to payback lost wages to employees within 10 days of one of these audits.

When Federal inspectors visit your business they will present you with a badge and ask to see the last two years of payroll records.  They will interview your staff privately.  Kathy recommended you prepare your staff in case of an audit, “the key is that staff knows where to get the information they need.”  Do your employees know where the Minimum Wage Standards Poster is located in your office?

Common areas of compliance violations are payment of overtime, observing required rest and meal periods, and employees who show up prior to their scheduled shift or hang around after their shift–employees who are not “on the clock” but are working.  In the employees mind they may be voluntarily giving of their personal time, but without proper documentation this could be a violation.

The Assessment Tool is easy to use, read the questions and if you answer yes to any of them, you are likely out of compliance.  To find out what you should be doing to remain in compliance, refer to the Rules Summary  included on the same web page as the Assessment Tool or call the U.S. Department of Labor at 1-866-4US-WAGE.