In this Article, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1)        “Agriculture” includes farming in all its branches performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with farming operations.

(2)        “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Labor.

(3)        “Employ” means to suffer or permit to work.

(4)        “Employee” includes any individual employed by an employer.

(5)        “Employer” includes any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee.

(6)        “Establishment” means a physical location where business is conducted.

(7)        “The Fair Labor Standards Act” means the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended and as the same may be amended from time to time by the United States Congress.

(8)        “Hours worked” includes all time an employee is employed.

(9)        “Payday” means that day designated for payment of wages due by virtue of the employment relationship.

(10)      “Pay periods” may be daily, weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly.

(11)      “Person” means an individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, legal representative, or any organized group of persons. For the purposes of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.2, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.3, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.14, and N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.20, it also means the State of North Carolina, any city, town, county, or municipality, or any State or local agency or instrumentality of government. The Government of the United States and any agency of the United States (including the United States Postal Service and Postal Rate Commission) are not included as persons for any purpose under this Article.

(12)      “Seasonal food service establishment” means a restaurant, food and drink stand or other establishment generally recognized as a commercial food service establishment, preparing and serving food to the public but operating 180 days or less per year.

(13)      “Seasonal religious or nonprofit educational conference center or a seasonal amusement or recreational establishment” means an establishment which does not operate for more than seven months in any calendar year, or during the preceding calendar year had average receipts for any six months of such year of not more than thirty-three and one-third percent (33 1/3%) of its average receipts for the other six months of that year.

(14)      “Tipped employee” means any employee who customarily receives more than twenty dollars ($20.00) a month in tips.

(15)      “Tip” shall mean any money or part thereof over and above the actual amount due a business for goods, food, drink, services or articles sold which is paid in cash or by credit card, or is given to or left for an employee by a patron or patrons of the business where the employee is employed.

(16)      “Wage” paid to an employee means compensation for labor or services rendered by an employee whether determined on a time, task, piece, job, day, commission, or other basis of calculation, and the reasonable cost as determined by the Commissioner of furnishing employees with board, lodging, or other facilities. For the purposes of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.6 through N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.13 “wage” includes sick pay, vacation pay, severance pay, commissions, bonuses, and other amounts promised when the employer has a policy or a practice of making such payments.

(17)      “Workweek” means any period of 168 consecutive hours.

(18)      “Enterprise” means the related activities performed either through unified operations or common control by any person or persons for a common business purpose and includes all such activities whether performed in one or more establishments or by one or more corporate units but shall not include the related activities performed for such enterprise by an independent contractor or franchisee. (1959, c. 475; 1961, c. 652; 1969, c. 34, s. 2; c. 218; 1971, c. 1231, s. 1; 1975, c. 413, s. 1; c. 605; 1977, c. 653; c. 672, s. 1; c. 826, s. 1; 1979, c. 839, s. 1; 1981, c. 663, ss. 10, 11; 1983, c. 708, s. 3; 1991, c. 330, s. 1.)