Home Depot Pay Rate Change Could Set New Standard for Industry

With a change in policy to pay its workers to the minute it could mean other companies in the business will need to change as well.

With a change in its hourly pay rate for its workers, DIY giant Home Depot (NYSE: HD) may be setting a new standard for the industry that could impact both retailers and suppliers.

In the past, Depot policy has been to “round total shift time up or down to the nearest 15 minutes,” spokesperson Sara Gorman said. That all changed in mid-January when the big retailer said it was shifting its policy for hourly workers to pay to the nearest minute.

“As laws, technology and workplace practices continue to evolve,” Gorman said in a statement, “we’re changing our practice nationwide to pay hourly associates to the nearest minute based on exact time punches.”

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to track and store employee time records through time clocks, electronic methods, or the good old-fashioned way of asking the workers themselves to submit their hours.

This new policy does not represent any change in the law: the Department of Labor still allows employers to round up or down to 15-minute increments. But as it has led in so many other elements of the industry, Home Depot’s change may very well represent a turning point throughout the business.

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