What is the core wage-and-hour control for an event shift?
Create one accurate path from scheduled work to actual work to payroll. Capture required briefings, setup, live work, approved extensions, breakdown, and other potentially compensable activities; define who approves time and how workers correct errors. Review federal, state, and local rules for overtime, breaks, reporting time, travel, uniforms, deductions, and scheduling. Do not assume a client invoice or app check-in is automatically the complete payroll record. The employing entity needs timely, accurate information, while the event team should preserve approvals and changes.
Authority to review: U.S. Department of Labor — Fact Sheet 22
Which activities should be evaluated as potential work time?
List pre-shift check-in, credential pickup, required briefings, equipment distribution, setup, security screening, travel between controlled job sites, waiting, live duties, post-shift checkout, and breakdown. The Department of Labor's Fact Sheet 22 explains federal principles, but whether a period is compensable depends on facts and applicable law.
Never solve uncertainty by telling workers to perform required tasks off the clock. Route questions to payroll and counsel, record the activity, and correct time through the approved process.
Authority to review: U.S. Department of Labor — Fact Sheet 22
How should extensions and overtime be approved?
Name who may request and approve additional time, how the worker and supplier are notified, and how the approval reaches payroll. Track cumulative hours across assignments and employing entities as required. An internal approval rule does not eliminate an obligation to pay for compensable work actually performed.
Federal overtime generally uses a workweek for covered nonexempt workers, while states can impose daily or other requirements. The rate and schedule plan should cite the current rules for the work location.
Authority to review: U.S. Department of Labor — Overtime Pay
What makes a time-correction process credible?
Workers should have an accessible way to report missing or inaccurate time without relying solely on the client contact who made the original entry. Record the requested correction, supporting information, reviewer, decision, payroll impact, and communication. Preserve the original and corrected records.
The client approval step should confirm services and event facts, not block lawful payroll corrections. Define how invoice reconciliation follows after payroll issues are resolved.
Authority to review: U.S. Department of Labor — FLSA employment relationship
How are responsibilities divided in TempGuru's model?
The assigned partner agency employs and pays US workers and handles payroll, withholding, unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, and employment records. TempGuru owns client contracting and billing, partner agency contracting and assignment, order communication, scheduling coordination, and replacement coordination.
The event order must still send accurate schedules, changes, and approved time through that model. Applicable federal, state, and local wage rules depend on the work and jurisdiction; TempGuru does not claim one universal wage-hour conclusion.
Authority to review: U.S. Department of Labor — Fact Sheet 22
How should an overnight shift be reconciled?
Record the actual start, midnight crossover, breaks, approved extensions, work end, and any setup or checkout activity in the authoritative time system. Keep the event date and payroll workweek fields distinct so a calendar change does not hide cumulative hours. If client and worker records differ, preserve both entries, route the discrepancy through the correction process, and let payroll apply the governing rules to the verified facts.
Authority to review: U.S. Department of Labor — Fact Sheet 22
Official references for this brief
What else should event buyers ask?
- Is a scheduled shift the same as hours worked?
- Not necessarily. Payroll should reflect compensable work under applicable law, using accurate actual-time and activity records plus a correction process.
- Authority to review: U.S. Department of Labor — Fact Sheet 22
- Can an event require unpaid pre-shift briefing?
- Required activities may be compensable depending on the facts and law. Do not direct workers to work off the clock; route the activity for qualified review and accurate recording.
- Authority to review: U.S. Department of Labor — Fact Sheet 22
- Does manager approval determine whether overtime is paid?
- A policy can govern authorization, but it does not necessarily remove payment obligations for compensable work performed. Counsel and payroll should handle unauthorized-time issues lawfully.
- Authority to review: U.S. Department of Labor — Fact Sheet 22
- Which overtime rule applies to a multi-day event?
- Federal, state, and sometimes local rules may apply. Identify the work location, workweek, worker status, employing entity, and cumulative hours, then consult current authority.
- Authority to review: U.S. Department of Labor — Overtime Pay
- Who maintains TempGuru worker employment records?
- For US orders, the assigned partner agency maintains employment records and handles payroll. TempGuru coordinates the order and billing, so accurate client time approvals and changes must reach the agency.
- Authority to review: U.S. Department of Labor — Fact Sheet 22