No, we do not believe that hourly employees are required to sign paper or electronic timecards, although an employer may choose to require employee signatures to verify the accuracy of timecards or for other business reasons.

The Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act requires employers to keep records of the wages paid to their employees each payday. The Illinois Department of Labor’s rules implementing the Act add the requirement that employers maintain records of “the hours worked each day in each work week” for each employee, but nothing requires these records to be in a specific form or signed by employees.

Additionally, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act’s recordkeeping regulations require covered employers to “maintain and preserve payroll or other records containing . . . [the] [h]ours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek” for each nonexempt employee. Similarly, no specific form is required for these records, and there is no mention of an employee signature requirement.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

• Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act, 820 ILCS 115/10 (“Employers shall keep records of names and addresses of all employees and of wages paid each payday, and shall furnish each employee with an itemized statement of deductions made from his wages for each pay period.”)

• Illinois Department of Labor Administrative Rules, 56 Ill. Admin. Code 300.630(a) (“Regardless of an employee’s status as either an exempt administrative employee, executive or professional, every employer shall make and maintain, for a period of not less than 3 years, the following true and accurate records for each employee: the name and address, the hours worked each day in each work week, the rate of pay, copies of all notices provided to the employee as required by subsection (d), the amount paid each pay period and all deductions made from wages or final compensation.”)

• Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #14: Coverage Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (“Employees who work for certain businesses or organizations (or ‘enterprises’) are covered by the FLSA. These enterprises, which must have at least two employees, are:

• those that have an annual dollar volume of sales or business done of at least $500,000

• hospitals, businesses providing medical or nursing care for residents, schools and preschools, and government agencies.”)

• Fair Labor Standards Act regulations, 29 CFR 516.2(a) (“Every employer shall maintain and preserve payroll or other records containing the following information and data with respect to each employee to whom section 6 or both sections 6 and 7(a) of the Act apply: . . . (7) Hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek . . . .”)

• Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #21: Recordkeeping Requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (“What Records Are Required: Every covered employer must keep certain records for each non-exempt worker. The Act requires no particular form for the records, but does require that the records include certain identifying information about the employee and data about the hours worked and the wages earned. The law requires this information to be accurate.”)