Alaska Contractor (Residential Endorsement) Exam — All Questions

An employee is injured while framing a house during work hours. Which system is designed to cover the employee's medical bills and lost wages regardless of who was at fault?

• a.The employee's personal auto insurance
• b.Workers' compensation insurance✓
• c.A performance bond
• d.The building permit fee

Workers' compensation is a no-fault system: an employee injured on the job receives medical care and partial wage replacement without having to prove the employer was negligent, and in exchange the employer is generally protected from most injury lawsuits. Carrying required workers' compensation coverage is a fundamental legal obligation for contractors with employees. A bond and a permit serve entirely different purposes.

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a covered nonexempt employee must generally be paid overtime for hours worked beyond:

• a.8 hours in a single day, in every state
• b.35 hours in a workweek
• c.40 hours in a workweek✓
• d.12 hours in a single workday

The FLSA sets the federal overtime rule: covered nonexempt employees must receive at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The federal standard is weekly, not daily (some states add their own daily-overtime rules, but the nationwide FLSA baseline is the 40-hour workweek). Misclassifying workers to dodge overtime is a common and costly violation.

Which factor most strongly suggests a worker should be classified as an EMPLOYEE rather than an independent contractor?

• a.The business controls how, when, and where the work is done and provides the tools✓
• b.The worker runs an independent business serving many clients and sets their own methods
• c.The worker supplies their own tools and can profit or lose based on their own decisions
• d.The worker is free to accept or reject jobs from many different companies

The central test for classification is the degree of control and independence. When the business directs how, when, and where the work is performed and supplies the tools, the worker looks like an employee. Independent contractors typically control their own methods, invest in their own tools, serve multiple clients, and bear the risk of profit or loss. Misclassifying employees as contractors to avoid taxes, overtime, and workers' comp is a serious and heavily penalized violation.

What is the purpose of Form I-9 that a contractor completes for each new hire?

• a.To calculate the employee's overtime rate
• b.To register the employee with the local building department
• c.To order the employee's personal protective equipment
• d.To verify identity and work authorization✓

The federal Form I-9 is used to verify each new employee's identity and their authorization to work in the United States, as required by immigration law. Employers must complete and retain an I-9 for every employee and review acceptable documents. It is separate from tax forms (like the W-4) and from any safety, permitting, or payroll-rate functions.

At the end of the year, an employee receives a W-2 while an independent contractor who was paid $600 or more receives a:

• a.Form I-9
• b.Form 1099-NEC✓
• c.Form W-4
• d.Form W-9 at year end

Employees receive a W-2 reporting wages and the taxes withheld from their pay. Independent contractors are not employees, so no taxes are withheld; instead a business that pays a contractor $600 or more in a year generally issues a Form 1099-NEC reporting that nonemployee compensation. Using the correct form follows directly from correctly classifying the worker, and the IRS uses these forms to track income.

On federally funded public works projects, the Davis-Bacon Act generally requires contractors to:

• a.Pay at least the locally prevailing wage and benefits✓
• b.Hire only union labor for the project
• c.Pay every worker the federal minimum wage
• d.Pay time-and-a-half for all hours on site

The federal Davis-Bacon Act requires that laborers and mechanics on federally funded or assisted construction contracts (above a threshold amount) be paid no less than the locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits, as determined by the Department of Labor for the area and trade. Many states have similar 'little Davis-Bacon' prevailing-wage laws for state-funded projects. Certified payroll records document compliance.

How is the cost of a contractor's workers' compensation insurance primarily determined?

• a.By the number of employees on the payroll
• b.By the total dollar value of jobs completed
• c.By payroll and the risk class of the work✓
• d.By the company's years in business

Workers' compensation premiums are generally calculated from the employer's payroll multiplied by a rate tied to the risk classification of the work — higher-risk trades like roofing carry higher rates than lower-risk office work. An experience modification factor then adjusts the premium up or down based on the company's actual claims history. Keeping a good safety record therefore directly lowers insurance costs.

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, what is generally true about the overtime standard?

• a.Overtime is owed after 8 hours in any single day nationwide
• b.Overtime must always be paid at double the regular rate
• c.Overtime applies only to hourly workers on public jobs
• d.Hours over 40 in a workweek are paid at 1.5 times the rate✓

The FLSA's federal overtime rule requires covered nonexempt employees to be paid at least one-and-one-half times their regular rate for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek. The federal standard is measured weekly, not daily, and the premium is time-and-a-half (not double time). Some states impose additional daily-overtime rules, but the nationwide FLSA baseline is the 40-hour workweek at 1.5x.

Federal anti-discrimination laws such as Title VII prohibit an employer from making hiring and firing decisions based on:

• a.Race, color, religion, sex, or national origin✓
• b.A worker's documented job performance
• c.Whether the worker holds the required trade skills
• d.The worker's attendance and punctuality on the job

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination based on protected characteristics — race, color, religion, sex, and national origin — and other federal laws add age (ADEA) and disability (ADA) as protected classes. Employers may absolutely make decisions based on legitimate factors like skill, performance, and attendance; what they may not do is base employment decisions on these protected characteristics.

What is the purpose of the Form W-4 that a new employee completes?

• a.To verify the worker's legal authorization to work in the U.S.
• b.To set the employee's federal income tax withholding✓
• c.To enroll the employee in the company benefit plan
• d.To calculate the company's workers' compensation premium

The Form W-4 (Employee's Withholding Certificate) is completed by the employee so the employer knows how much federal income tax to withhold from each paycheck based on the employee's filing status and adjustments. It is distinct from the Form I-9, which verifies identity and work authorization. Both are completed at hire, but they serve different functions — tax withholding versus employment eligibility.

A nonexempt carpenter is paid $24.00 per hour and works 46 hours in one workweek. Under the federal FLSA minimum, what is the gross pay for that week?

• a.$1,104
• b.$1,176✓
• c.$1,656
• d.$1,248

The first 40 hours are paid at the regular rate: 40 x $24.00 = $960. The 6 overtime hours are paid at one and one-half times that rate: 6 x $36.00 = $216. Total gross pay is $1,176. Paying all 46 hours straight time gives $1,104 and shortchanges the worker; paying every hour at time and a half gives $1,656; and paying the overtime hours at double time gives $1,248, which exceeds the federal requirement.

Gross payroll for a pay period is $10,000. Social Security is 6.2% and Medicare is 1.45% of wages. What is the employer's own FICA share for that payroll?

• a.$765, matching the employees' withholding✓
• b.$1,530, twice what was withheld from the employees
• c.$0, because FICA is withheld from employees only
• d.$620, covering only the Social Security portion

FICA has two halves at identical rates: the employee's 7.65% is withheld from wages and the employer owes a matching 7.65% out of its own pocket. On $10,000 of wages that is $765 withheld and $765 in employer tax, so $1,530 total is remitted, but only $765 of it is the employer's share. Forgetting the employer match is a classic reason a contractor's labor budget comes up short, and Medicare alone would leave out the larger Social Security piece.

An employee's gross pay for the week is $1,200. The employer withholds $96 of federal income tax plus employee FICA at the combined 7.65% rate. What is the net pay?

• a.$1,104.00
• b.$1,108.20
• c.$1,012.20✓
• d.$920.40

Employee FICA is $1,200 x 0.0765 = $91.80. Net pay = $1,200 - $96.00 - $91.80 = $1,012.20. Deducting only the income tax gives $1,104.00 and deducting only FICA gives $1,108.20. Withholding FICA twice, as if the employer's matching share also came out of the worker's check, gives $920.40 — the match is an employer expense and is never deducted from the employee.

A contractor short on cash uses the federal income tax and FICA amounts withheld from employees' checks to buy materials. What is the exposure?

• a.Nothing, because the withheld amounts belong to the company until the return is filed
• b.Only the employees are penalized, since the tax came out of their own wages
• c.The company simply pays the shortfall with the next payroll and owes nothing more
• d.The withheld money is a trust fund, and a responsible person can be personally liable✓

Amounts withheld from a worker's pay are held in trust for the federal government, not working capital the business may borrow. An employer must deposit them on the schedule the IRS assigns and report them on its payroll returns. When trust-fund taxes go unpaid, the government can assess a penalty personally against the owners, officers, or bookkeepers responsible for the decision, and that liability follows the individual even if the company later fails.

Federal unemployment tax (FUTA) is paid by:

• a.The employee only, through a deduction shown on each paycheck stub
• b.The employee and employer in equal matching shares, like Social Security
• c.The employer only, with nothing deducted from the employees' wages✓
• d.The general contractor on behalf of every subcontractor working on site

FUTA is an employer-paid tax on wages; it is never withheld from an employee's check, which distinguishes it from Social Security and Medicare, where employer and employee each pay a matching share. Employers also pay state unemployment tax, and the rate each company pays is set by state law and its own claims history. Each employer is responsible for its own workforce, not for a subcontractor's employees.

A nonexempt worker paid $20.00 per hour works 45 hours in a week and earns a $90 nondiscretionary production bonus for that week. What is the regular rate for overtime purposes?

• a.$22.00✓
• b.$20.00
• c.$22.25
• d.$30.00

Under the FLSA the regular rate includes nondiscretionary bonuses, so the bonus is added to the week's straight-time earnings and divided by all hours worked: ($900 + $90) / 45 = $22.00. Overtime is then one and one-half times $22.00 for the 5 hours over 40. Leaving the bonus out gives $20.00 and underpays the overtime; dividing the bonus by 40 hours instead of 45 gives $22.25; and $30.00 is the time-and-a-half rate on the base wage rather than the regular rate itself.

A laborer's base wage is $25.00 per hour, and payroll taxes, workers' compensation, and benefits add 32% on top of that wage. What is the fully burdened hourly labor cost?

• a.$8.00
• b.$25.32
• c.$36.76
• d.$33.00✓

Burdened cost = base wage x (1 + burden rate) = $25.00 x 1.32 = $33.00 per hour. The $8.00 figure is the burden by itself with the wage left out, $25.32 treats 32% as 32 cents, and $36.76 comes from dividing by 0.68 as though the burden were a margin on the selling price. Estimating labor at the bare wage understates the real cost of every field hour and is a common way a bid loses money before work even starts.

Which statement correctly describes E-Verify?

• a.A federal payroll system that computes each employee's tax withholding
• b.A federal electronic system that checks I-9 data against government records✓
• c.A federal database listing every contractor licensed to work in the United States
• d.A federal program that pays an apprentice's wages during the first year of work

E-Verify is an internet-based system that compares the information an employee gives on the Form I-9 with records held by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to confirm work authorization. It supplements the I-9; it does not replace the employer's duty to complete and retain the form. Participation is voluntary for many private employers but is required for certain federal contractors and by some states, so a contractor must check the rules that apply to the job.

A contractor pays crew members as independent contractors even though the company directs their daily work. If an audit reclassifies them as employees, the likely result is:

• a.The workers must repay the company for the taxes it never withheld from their pay
• b.The company issues corrected 1099 forms for the prior year and owes nothing else
• c.The company owes back payroll taxes and unpaid overtime, plus interest and penalties✓
• d.The workers forfeit the wages they were paid during the period under the audit

Misclassification does not shift the cost to the worker. The employer becomes liable for the payroll taxes it should have withheld and matched, unpaid overtime under the FLSA, interest, and penalties, and it may also face workers' compensation and unemployment assessments for the same workers. The exposure is retroactive across the audit period, which is why the control test should be applied before the first check is written rather than after.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a covered employer must:

• a.Provide reasonable accommodation to a qualified individual absent undue hardship✓
• b.Hire any applicant who discloses a disability regardless of the job's requirements
• c.Ask every applicant about medical conditions before making an offer of employment
• d.Assign employees with disabilities to office work away from any active job site

The ADA requires a covered employer to provide reasonable accommodation — a modified schedule, adapted equipment, or a restructured non-essential duty — so a qualified individual can perform the essential functions of the job, unless doing so would impose undue hardship on the business. It does not require hiring someone who cannot perform those essential functions even with accommodation. Pre-offer medical inquiries are prohibited, and steering workers into segregated assignments is itself discrimination.

The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects:

• a.Workers of any age from being asked their date of birth on a job application
• b.Only workers who have been with the same employer for at least ten years
• c.Employees under 18 from being assigned hazardous construction site tasks
• d.Applicants and employees who are 40 years of age or older✓

The ADEA prohibits discrimination in hiring, pay, promotion, layoff, and discharge against applicants and employees aged 40 and over at covered employers. It has no length-of-service requirement, and it does not by itself outlaw asking a date of birth, though such questions invite scrutiny. Restrictions on minors working in hazardous occupations come from the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, not from the ADEA.

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act generally entitles an eligible employee of a covered employer to:

• a.Paid leave at full salary for any personal reason the employee thinks important
• b.Unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons✓
• c.Leave the employer may grant or deny at its own discretion on each request
• d.A cash payment equal to the wages lost while caring for a family member

The FMLA provides unpaid leave, with the employee's group health coverage maintained and the right to return to the same or an equivalent position, for reasons such as a serious health condition or the birth or adoption of a child. It applies only to employers that meet the statute's coverage thresholds and to employees who meet its service requirements. It pays no wages, and where it applies the employer cannot simply refuse a qualifying request. Separate paid-leave entitlements, where they exist, are created by state law.

Under the child labor provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which assignment on a construction site is prohibited?

• a.A 16-year-old operating a power-driven circular saw✓
• b.A 19-year-old apprentice working more than 40 hours in a week
• c.An 18-year-old driving a company pickup to a supply house
• d.A 17-year-old sweeping the shop floor after school hours

The FLSA's hazardous occupations orders bar workers under 18 from jobs the Secretary of Labor has declared particularly hazardous, and power-driven woodworking machinery such as a circular saw is on that list, along with roofing, excavation, and demolition work. Once a worker turns 18 the federal child labor rules no longer apply, so the 18- and 19-year-old assignments are permitted, and non-hazardous cleanup work is allowed for a 17-year-old.

Two employees of a nonunion contractor compare their wages and then jointly ask the owner for a raise. Under the National Labor Relations Act this conduct is:

• a.Unprotected, because the labor act reaches only unionized workplaces
• b.A breach of company confidentiality the owner may lawfully punish
• c.Protected concerted activity the employer may not punish✓
• d.Allowed only if the workers first petition a federal labor agency

The NLRA protects employees who act together over wages, hours, or working conditions, and that protection applies whether or not a union is involved. Two workers discussing pay and taking a shared request to the employer is textbook protected concerted activity. Firing or disciplining them for it, or maintaining a rule that forbids employees from discussing their pay, is generally an unfair labor practice, and no petition or filing is needed first.

In most U.S. jurisdictions, 'at-will employment' means that:

• a.The employer may fire a worker for any reason at all, including race or religion
• b.The employee must give the employer advance notice before quitting a job
• c.Employment continues until the employer can show good cause for a discharge
• d.Either side may end the relationship at any time, except for unlawful reasons✓

At-will is the general default: absent a contract, either the employer or the employee may end the relationship at any time, with or without notice or cause. The exceptions matter as much as the rule — a termination may not be based on a protected characteristic, in retaliation for protected activity such as a safety complaint, in violation of public policy, or contrary to an employment contract or collective bargaining agreement. The precise exceptions recognized vary by state.

On a covered federal construction contract, what does a contractor submit to document compliance with Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements?

• a.A weekly certified payroll listing each worker's classification, hours, and wages✓
• b.An annual summary of the total wages paid to all crews on the whole project
• c.A copy of every worker's Form W-4 filed at the start of the contract period
• d.A monthly statement of the company's overall profit earned on the contract

Contractors and subcontractors on covered federal projects must submit weekly certified payrolls showing each laborer and mechanic, the classification worked, hours by day, rate paid, deductions, and fringe benefits, along with a signed statement of compliance. The certification is made under penalty of law, so falsifying it carries serious consequences. Annual summaries, tax withholding forms, and profit statements do not show whether each worker received the prevailing wage for the classification actually performed.

The federal Copeland 'Anti-Kickback' Act makes it unlawful for a contractor on a covered federal project to:

• a.Hire a relative of a company officer to work as a laborer on the job
• b.Induce a worker to give back any part of the wages they have earned✓
• c.Pay a subcontractor before the owner releases that month's progress payment
• d.Offer a bonus to a crew that finishes the work ahead of the schedule

The Copeland Act closes the obvious loophole in prevailing wage law: it prohibits inducing any worker on a covered federal contract to give up, by force, threat, or any other means, part of the compensation they are entitled to. It also underlies the requirement to submit weekly certified payrolls and limits payroll deductions to those that are permitted. Hiring relatives, paying subcontractors early, and offering completion bonuses are ordinary business decisions, not kickbacks.

An employee covered by workers' compensation is hurt on the job through the employer's ordinary negligence. Under the exclusive remedy rule, the employee generally:

• a.May also sue the employer for pain and suffering on top of the benefits
• b.Receives benefits only if the employer is proven to have been at fault
• c.Takes the statutory benefits and cannot sue the employer in tort for it✓
• d.Must choose between filing a claim and keeping the job with that employer

Workers' compensation is a trade-off. The worker gets medical care and wage replacement without proving fault, and in exchange the compensation claim is normally the exclusive remedy against the employer, so ordinary negligence suits are barred. Claims against negligent third parties, such as an equipment maker or another contractor on site, generally remain available. Who must carry coverage, what benefits are paid, and the narrow exceptions to exclusivity are all set by state law and differ from state to state.

What is the federal minimum wage a covered nonexempt employee must be paid under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and since when?

• a.$7.25 per hour, effective July 24, 2009✓
• b.$5.15 per hour, effective September 1, 1997
• c.$10.10 per hour, effective January 1, 2014
• d.$12.00 per hour, effective January 1, 2020

The federal floor has stood at $7.25 since July 24, 2009. $5.15 was the federal rate before the 2007 amendments stepped it upward in three stages. $10.10 and $12.00 are figures adopted by various states and localities and proposed at the federal level, but neither is the FLSA minimum. Where a state or local minimum is higher than the federal one, the employer must pay the higher rate.

For overtime purposes under the FLSA, how is an employee's workweek defined?

• a.Monday through Friday, with weekend hours counted separately
• b.The seven days ending on the employer's regular payday
• c.A fixed, regularly recurring period of 168 hours, or seven consecutive 24-hour days✓
• d.Any seven consecutive days the employer picks after the hours are known

29 CFR 778.105 defines the workweek as a fixed and regularly recurring 168-hour period that may begin on any day and at any hour but, once set, stays fixed. It need not match the calendar week and need not end on payday. Choosing the week after the fact, to spread hours across a boundary and avoid the premium, is exactly what the fixed-week rule prevents; a change is permitted only if it is intended to be permanent and is not designed to evade the Act.

A crew takes a paid 15-minute coffee break in the morning and an unpaid 30-minute lunch during which nobody is on duty. Under the FLSA, how are those two periods treated?

• a.Both the break and the lunch are hours worked
• b.Neither the break nor the lunch is hours worked
• c.The lunch is hours worked and the break is not
• d.The break is hours worked; the lunch is not✓

The Department of Labor treats rest periods of short duration, usually 20 minutes or less, as compensable working time that promotes efficiency. A bona fide meal period, typically 30 minutes or more, is not work time, but only where the employee is completely relieved from duty. A worker who eats at a desk while answering the phone has not been relieved, and that meal period becomes hours worked.

A laborer is told to stay on the job site during a two-hour equipment breakdown in case the machine is repaired. Under the FLSA, is that time paid?

• a.No, because no work was performed
• b.Yes, because he was engaged to wait✓
• c.No, because the breakdown was beyond the employer's control
• d.Only if the interruption runs longer than four hours

The FLSA distinguishes being engaged to wait, which is compensable, from waiting to be engaged, which is not. A worker held on site who cannot use the time effectively for their own purposes is engaged to wait, whether or not anything productive happens in those hours. Neither the cause of the delay nor its length changes the analysis, and there is no four-hour federal threshold anywhere in the rule.

How long does the FLSA require an employer to preserve payroll records?

• a.At least 1 year
• b.At least 5 years
• c.At least 3 years✓
• d.At least 7 years

29 CFR 516.5 requires payroll records, certificates, agreements and collective bargaining agreements to be preserved for at least 3 years. A companion rule, 29 CFR 516.6, requires the supporting records on which wage computations rest, such as time cards and wage-rate tables, to be kept at least 2 years. One year falls short of both. Five and seven years are common retention policies driven by tax and litigation habits, not by the FLSA.

A court orders a contractor to garnish an employee's wages for an ordinary consumer debt. Under the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act, the most that may be taken from one week's pay is:

• a.50 percent of disposable earnings, or 60 percent if no other family is supported
• b.25 percent of gross pay before any deductions, with no minimum amount protected
• c.Whatever amount the court order names, since the federal cap applies only to support orders
• d.Whichever is less: 25 percent of disposable earnings, or the excess over 30 times the minimum wage✓

29 CFR 870.10 sets a two-part cap and the employee gets whichever part protects them more. The base is disposable earnings, meaning pay after legally required deductions, not gross pay, and the 30-times-minimum-wage floor can exempt a low earner entirely. The 50 and 60 percent figures belong to support orders, which have their own higher limits under a different subsection, and a court order for an ordinary consumer debt cannot override the federal cap.

Which combination makes an employee eligible for leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act?

• a.90 days of employment and full-time status at any worksite of the employer
• b.12 months employed, 1,250 hours worked, and 50 employees within 75 miles✓
• c.Six months of employment and 1,000 hours of service in the past year
• d.Employment by any employer with more than 15 employees anywhere in the country

29 CFR 825.110 sets all three conditions and every one must be met, though the 12 months of employment need not be consecutive. A 90-day probationary period and a 1,000-hour threshold come from other contexts, such as benefit-plan and retirement-plan eligibility, not from the FMLA. The 15-employee figure is an employer-size test from a different statute altogether and has nothing to do with FMLA eligibility.

How long must an employer retain a completed Form I-9 for an employee who has left the company?

• a.Three years after hire or one year after separation, whichever is later✓
• b.Three years after employment ends, regardless of the hire date
• c.One year after the date of hire, or until the next government audit
• d.As long as the rest of the employee's personnel file is retained by the company

8 CFR 274a.2(b)(2)(i)(A) states the rule as three years after the date of the hire or one year after the date the individual's employment is terminated, whichever is later. For a long-service employee that means one year after separation; for someone who lasted a month it means nearly three years from hire. Each of the other choices applies only one half of the test, and personnel-file retention is an employer policy, not the I-9 rule.

At what contract value do Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements attach to a federal construction contract?

• a.Contracts in excess of $25,000
• b.Contracts in excess of $100,000
• c.Contracts in excess of $150,000
• d.Contracts in excess of $2,000✓

40 U.S.C. 3142(a) applies the prevailing wage requirement to every federal contract in excess of $2,000 for construction, alteration or repair of public buildings and public works. The threshold has never been indexed for inflation, so in practice it catches nearly every federal construction job. The $100,000 figure is the threshold for the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act's overtime clause, a different statute, and $25,000 and $150,000 are acquisition thresholds unrelated to prevailing wages.

On a federal construction contract over $100,000, the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act requires laborers and mechanics to be paid:

• a.Time and one-half for all hours over 40 in a workweek✓
• b.Time and one-half for all hours over 8 in a day, and double time beyond 12
• c.Double time for all hours over 40 in a workweek
• d.The prevailing wage only, with no overtime premium

29 CFR 5.5(b)(1) requires not less than one and one-half times the basic rate of pay for hours worked in excess of forty in a workweek on covered contracts over $100,000. The daily eight-hour trigger was removed from the statute in 1986 and now survives only in certain state laws, where a daily double-time tier may also apply. Double time is not required by any federal statute, and prevailing wage is a Davis-Bacon requirement about the hourly rate, which is a separate question from the overtime premium.

A private construction company offers a nonexempt employee an extra day off next month instead of overtime pay for this week's 48 hours. Under the FLSA this is:

• a.Lawful, if the employee agrees to the arrangement in writing
• b.Lawful, if the time off is granted at one and one-half hours per hour worked
• c.Unlawful, because a private employer must pay the overtime premium in cash that week✓
• d.Lawful, because the two workweeks average out to 40 hours each

Compensatory time in lieu of overtime pay is available only to public-sector employers under a narrow FLSA provision; a private employer must pay cash overtime for the workweek in which it was earned. The employee cannot waive the right by agreement, because FLSA rights are not waivable. Averaging hours across two workweeks is separately barred, since each workweek stands alone for overtime purposes.

A journeyman leaves to serve a three-year tour in the National Guard and then asks for his job back. Under USERRA, the employer generally must:

• a.Rehire him only if a vacancy happens to exist when he reports back
• b.Reemploy him in the position he would have attained had he not served✓
• c.Rehire him at entry level, because his trade skills have gone stale
• d.Do nothing, because service longer than one year ends reemployment rights

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act protects reemployment for cumulative service of up to five years and applies the escalator principle: the returning worker steps back onto the seniority escalator where it would have carried him. That right does not depend on a vacancy, so the employer must make room. There is no one-year cut-off, and demoting a returning servicemember is precisely what the statute forbids.