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Wage Claims, Overtime & Other Employee Compensation

ARE YOU BEING PAID FOR ALL YOUR “WORK TIME”?

     Employees who are “on the clock” know that the employer must pay for work performed during this time. However, there are situations where it is not clear whether work performed outside the regular 8-hour schedule is compensable.

     It is important to remember that time spent by an employee performing activities that are controlled by and for the benefit of the employer is considered “work time.” These include “off-the-clock” time spent performing job-related activities which benefit the employer. If the employer knows (or should have known) that the employee is working and allows it, the employer should pay for the work time.

     The following activities may also be considered “work time”:

     1) “Voluntary,” “unauthorized” or “unapproved” work or overtime work (provided the employer knows or should know it is being done and permits the employee to do it anyway)

     2) Other “nonproductive” time such as time spent by a call center employee waiting for the phone to ring

     3) Time spent preparing the equipment or tools required at work

     4) Time spent performing work-related activities that the employer permits, whether on the employer's premises or not, and whether “required” or not

     5) Work done “at home” or at a place other than the normal work site

     6) “On-call” time where the employee is not allowed to control and use the time for his or her own enjoyment or benefit. However, if the employee has control of and is able to use the time for his or her own benefit, then the time will not be counted as work time.

     7) Work performed before the employee’s actual shift. Some employees, for example, may “come early” and start working before their shift officially starts. Pre-shift roll calls, safety meetings, exercise sessions, and equipment set-ups before the official start time are all considered work time.

     8) Work performed after the employee’s shift (for example, time spent cleaning equipment after a shift, or time removing safety suits, or “on the way home” activities such as dropping off mail at the post office or delivering some paperwork to a customer)

     9) If the employee is on a 24-hour duty but is unable to sleep uninterrupted for at least five hours during the eight-hour sleep period allotted for sleep, or the employee is forced to work during the period allotted for sleep (for example, live-in caregivers who wake up twice a night to check on clients)

     10) An employee’s travel time that is not within the employee’s normal commuting area for the employer’s business (for example, an employee who regularly works at a fixed location in one city is given a special one day assignment in another city and returns home the same day)

     11) An employee’s travel time that is part of the job, such as travel from job site to job site during the workday (for example, after the employee arrives at the regular branch office in the morning, the employee is told to work at another local branch to cover an absent employee)

     12) Travel away from home when it cuts across the employee's workday. The time is not only hours worked on regular working days during normal working hours but also during corresponding hours on nonworking days.

     There may be other situations where job-related activities performed off-the-clock may be compensable. Under the law, an employer cannot accept the benefit(s) of the employees’ work without paying the wages due.
 

© Law Offices C. Joe Sayas, Jr.