Employee not entitled to overtime where employer not aware of work
20.05.12
The rule doesn’t require that the record of hours worked be maintained in any particular form. It can be on a time card, time sheet, computer, etc.
However, the rule requires that employers maintain the required records (or a duplicate) in a safe and accessible location at the place of employment, the business at which the employee is employed, or at one or more established central record-keeping offices in the state.
When an employer fails to maintain the required time records, there is a risk that an enforcement agency such as the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division or the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Equal Rights Division, Labor Standards Bureau, or a court, will find the evidence of an aggrieved employee concerning the nature and extent of alleged hours worked more credible than any other evidence offered by the employer.
This is especially true when an employer misclassifies a non-exempt employee as exempt. Many employers are reluctant to maintain time records for exempt employees for fear that it will be used to show that they are treating such employees as non-exempt. Wisconsin employers need not be so concerned in that regard given the above recordkeeping requirement applicable to non-exempt and exempt employees.
Source: WisBar