(1) "Director" means the Director of the Department of Labor;

(2) "Employ" includes to suffer or to permit to work;

(3) "Employee" includes any individual employed by an employer but shall not include:

(A) Any individual employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity or as an outside commission-paid salesperson who customarily performs his or her services away from his or her employer's premises taking orders for goods or services;

(B) Students performing services for any school, college, or university in which they are enrolled and are regularly attending classes;

(C) Any individual employed by the United States;

(D) Any individual engaged in the activities of any educational, charitable, religious, or nonprofit organization where the employer-employee relationship does not in fact exist or where the services are rendered to the organizations gratuitously;

(E) Any bona fide independent contractor;

(F) Any individual employed by an agricultural employer who did not use more than five hundred (500) man-days of agricultural labor in any calendar quarter of the preceding calendar year;

(G) The parent, spouse, child, or other member of an agricultural employer's immediate family;

(H) An individual who:

(i) Is employed as a hand-harvest laborer and is paid on a piece-rate basis in an operation which has been, and is customarily and generally recognized as having been, paid on a piece-rate basis in the region of employment;

(ii) Commutes daily from his or her permanent residence to the farm on which he or she is so employed; and

(iii) Has been employed in agriculture fewer than thirteen (13) weeks during the preceding calendar year;

(I) A migrant who:

(i) Is sixteen (16) years of age or under and is employed as a hand-harvest laborer;

(ii) Is paid on a piece-rate basis in an operation which has been, and is customarily and generally recognized as having been, paid on a piece-rate basis in the region of employment;

(iii) Is employed on the same farm as his or her parents; and

(iv) Is paid the same piece-rate as employees over age sixteen (16) years are paid on the same farm;

(J) Any employee principally engaged in the range production of livestock;

(K) Any employee employed in planting or tending trees, cruising, surveying, or felling timber, or in preparing or transporting logs or other forestry products to the mill, processing plants, or railroad or other transportation terminal if the number of employees employed by his or her employer in the forestry or lumbering operations does not exceed eight (8); or

(L) An employee employed by a nonprofit recreational or educational camp that does not operate for more than seven (7) months in any calendar year;

(M) A nonprofit child welfare agency employee who serves as a houseparent that is:

(i) Directly involved in caring for children who reside in residential facilities of the nonprofit child welfare agency, and who are orphans, in foster care, abused, neglected, abandoned, homeless, in need of supervision, or otherwise in crisis situations that lead to out-of-home placements; and

(ii) Compensated at an annual rate of not less than thirteen thousand dollars ($13,000), or at an annual rate of not less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) if the employee resides in the residential facility and receives board and lodging at no cost;

(4)

(A) "Employer" includes any individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, the State, any political subdivision of the State, or any person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee.

(B) "Employer" shall not include any individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, or any person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee for any workweek in which fewer than four (4) employees are employed;

(5) "Gratuities" means voluntary monetary contributions received by an employee from a guest, patron, or customer for services rendered;

(6) "Independent contractor" means any individual who contracts to perform certain work away from the premises of his or her employer, uses his or her own methods to accomplish the work, and is subject to the control of the employer only as to the result of his or her work;

(7) "Man-day" means any day during any portion of which an employee performs any agricultural labor. Any individual otherwise excluded as an "employee" under subdivision (3) (I) of this section shall be considered an employee in computing man-days of agricultural labor;

(8) "Occupation" means any occupation, service, trade, business, industry, or branch or group of industries or employment or class of employment in which employees are gainfully employed; and

(9) "Wage" means compensation due to an employee by reason of his or her employment, payable in legal tender of the United States or checks on banks convertible into cash on demand at full face value, subject to such deductions, charges, or allowances as may be permitted by this subchapter or by regulations of the director under this subchapter.

11-4-206. Penalties.

(a)

(1) Any employer who willfully hinders or delays the Director of the Department of Labor or his or her authorized representative in the performance of his or her duties in the enforcement of this subchapter; willfully refuses to admit the director or his or her authorized representative to any place of employment; willfully fails to make, keep, and preserve any records as required under the provisions of this subchapter; willfully falsifies any such record; willfully refuses to make the record accessible to the director or his or her authorized representative upon demand; willfully refuses to furnish a sworn statement of the record or any other information required for the proper enforcement of this subchapter to the director or his or her authorized representative upon demand; willfully fails to post a summary of this subchapter or a copy of any applicable regulations as required by Sec. 11-4-216; pays or agrees to pay minimum wages at a rate less than the rate applicable under this subchapter; or otherwise willfully violates any provision of this subchapter, or of any regulation issued under this subchapter, shall be deemed in violation of this subchapter and shall be subject to a civil penalty of not fewer than fifty dollars ($50.00) and not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each violation.

(2) For the purposes of this subsection, each violation shall constitute a separate offense.

(b) Any employer who willfully discharges or in any other manner willfully discriminates against any employee because the employee has made any complaint to his or her employer or to the director or his or her authorized representative that he or she has not been paid minimum wages in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter or because the employee has caused to be instituted or is about to cause to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this subchapter or because the employee has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding shall be deemed in violation of this subchapter and shall be subject to a civil penalty of not fewer than fifty dollars ($50.00) and not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each violation.

(c) For the purposes of this section, each day the violation continues shall constitute a separate offense.

(d) The director shall determine the amount of the penalty and shall consider the appropriateness of the penalty to the size of the business and the gravity of the violation.

(e) The determination by the director shall be final unless within fifteen (15) days after receipt of notice thereof by certified mail the person, firm, corporation, partnership, or association charged with the violation notifies the director in writing that he or she contests the proposed penalty. In the event that a penalty is contested, a final determination shall be made pursuant to the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act, Sec. 25-15-201 et seq.

(f) Upon a final administrative determination, the amount of the penalty may be recovered in a civil action brought by the director in a court of competent jurisdiction without paying costs or giving bond for costs.

(g) Sums collected under this section shall be paid into the Department of Labor Special Fund.

(h) Assessment of a civil penalty by the director shall be made no later than three (3) years after the date of the occurrence of the violation.

(i) In addition to the civil penalty provided by this section, the director is authorized to petition any court of competent jurisdiction, without paying costs or giving bond for costs, to enjoin or restrain any person, firm, corporation, partnership, or association who violates the provisions of this subchapter or any regulation issued thereunder.

11-4-211. Overtime at time and a half for hours over 40; Exceptions.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section and §§11-4-210 and 11-4-212, no employer shall employ any of his or her employees for a work week longer than forty (40) hours unless the employee receives compensation for his or her employment in excess of the hours above specified at a rate not less than one and one-half (11/2 ) times the regular rate of pay at which he or she is employed.

(b) However, employees of hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions, which have an annual sales volume of less than five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) and which are subject to the provisions of this subchapter shall be compensated at one and one-half (11/2 ) times the regular hourly rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of:

(1) Forty-four (44) hours in a work week beginning July 1, 1991; and

(2) Forty (40) hours in a work week beginning July 1, 1992.

(c) The provisions regarding the payment of wages at one and one-half (11/2 ) times the regular rate of pay for overtime services shall not be applicable with respect to agricultural employees.

(d) Neither the provisions of this section nor the provisions of any other law of this state shall be construed to require the payment of compensation at a greater rate than the normal rate for services performed by agricultural employees in excess of forty (40) hours per week.

(e) This section shall not apply to any employee exempt from the overtime requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act pursuant to the provisions of 29 U.S.C. Section 213(b)(1) --(24) and (b)(28) --(30), as they exist on March 1, 2006.

(f) No public agency shall be deemed to have violated this section with respect to the employment of any employee in fire protection activities or law enforcement activities including security personnel in correctional institutions, provided that the public agency pays overtime pay in compliance with 29 U.S.C. Section 207(k), as it exists on March 1, 2006.

(g) In lieu of overtime compensation, the State and any political subdivision of the State may award compensatory time off at a rate of not less than one and one-half (1 1/2) hours for each hour of employment for which overtime compensation is required. The compensatory time off may be provided only:

(1)

(A) Pursuant to applicable provisions of a collective bargaining agreement, memorandum of understanding or other agreement between the public agency and representatives of such employees; or

(B) In the case of employees not covered by subsection (g)(1), an agreement or understanding arrived at between the employer and employee before the performance of the work; and

(2) If the employee has not terminated employment and has not accrued compensatory time in excess of the following:

(A) Four hundred eighty (480) hours for police, firefighters, emergency response personnel and employees engaged in seasonal activities; or

(B) Two hundred forty (240) hours for any public employee not otherwise exempt or covered by subsection (g)(2)(A).

11-4-216. Posting of law.

(a) Every employer subject to any provisions of this subchapter or of any regulations issued under this subchapter shall keep a summary of this subchapter, approved by the Director of the Department of Labor, and copies of any applicable regulations issued under this subchapter, or a summary of the regulations approved by the director, posted in a conspicuous and accessible place in or about the premises wherein any person subject thereto is employed.

(b) Employers shall be furnished copies of the summaries of this statute and regulations by the director on request without charge.

11-4-217. Records kept by employer.

(a) Every employer subject to any provision of this subchapter or of any regulation issued under this subchapter shall make and keep for a period of not less than three (3) years in or about the premises wherein any employee is employed a record of the name, address, and occupation of each of his or her employees, the rate of pay, and the amount paid each pay period to each employee, and such other information as the Director of the Department of Labor shall prescribe by regulation as necessary or appropriate for the enforcement of the provisions of this subchapter or of the regulations thereunder.

(b) The records shall be open for inspection or transcription by the director or his or her authorized representative at any reasonable time.

(c) Every employer shall furnish to the director or to his or her authorized representative on demand a sworn statement of the records and information upon forms prescribed or approved by the director.

11-4-218. Failure to pay minimum wage, including overtime or compensatory overtime; Employer liability; Remedies; Enforcement.

(a)

(1) Any employer who pays any employee less than minimum wages, including overtime compensation or compensatory time off as provided for by this subchapter, to which the employee is entitled under or by virtue of this subchapter shall:

(A) Pay any applicable civil penalties; and

(B) Be liable to the employee affected for:

(i) The full amount of the wages, less any amount actually paid to the employee by the employer; and

(ii) Costs and such reasonable attorney's fees as may be allowed by the court.

(2) The employee may be awarded an additional amount up to but not greater than the amount under subdivision (a)(1)(B)(i) of this section to be paid as liquidated damages.

(b) Any agreement between the employee and employer to work for less than minimum wages shall be no defense to the action.

(c) The venue of the action shall lie in the circuit court of any county in which the services which are the subject of the employment were performed.

(d)

(1) The Director of the Department of Labor shall have the authority to fully enforce this subchapter by instituting legal action to recover any wages which he or she determines to be due to employees under this subchapter.

(2) No legal action shall be brought by the director until after notice and opportunity for hearing pursuant to the Arkansas Administrative Procedures Act, §25-15-201 et seq., and entry of a final administrative order.

(3)

(A) Following any appeals taken pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act, §25-15-201 et seq., the director shall be entitled to enforce his or her final administrative order in any court of competent jurisdiction without paying costs or giving bond for costs.

(B) The director's findings of fact shall be conclusive in any such proceeding.

(e)

(1) An employee may bring an action for equitable and monetary relief against an employer, including the State of Arkansas or a political subdivision of the state, if the employer pays the employee less than the minimum wages, including overtime wages, to which the employee is entitled under or by virtue of this subchapter.

(2) If the employee brings an action under this subsection (e), then any complaint before the director by the employee on the same matter shall be dismissed with respect to that employee.

(3)

(A) The employee shall not be required to exhaust administrative remedies before bringing an action.

(B) There shall be no procedural, pleading, or burden of proof requirements beyond those that apply generally to civil suits in order to maintain the action.

11-4-220. Minimum wage and overtime violations; Who may file a claim; Investigations; Confidentiality of information.

(a) Any employee covered by this subchapter may file a claim with the Director of the Department of Labor charging that an employer has violated Section Section 11-4-210 or 11-4-211 as to any employee or other person.

(b) The director shall promptly investigate each claim.

(c) The name of any employee identified in a claim shall be kept confidential until the director issues an administrative complaint or the director is ordered to release the information by order of a court of competent jurisdiction.