Laws Relating to “Working Off the Clock”

A common problem is known as “working off the clock”. Often an employer fails to include all hours worked by an employee in that employee’s pay calculation, whether for overtime or otherwise. In general, an employee’s total hours worked must include all time spent doing work primarily for the benefit of the employer.

There are two kinds of “off the clock” cases that KL handles.

First, employers will often discourage employees from reporting or entering all their time. We have found employees — often major companies – that would explicitly or implicitly let their workers know that they not record or should not put in for overtime.

Second, employers often overlook certain kinds of work in calculating employee hours, such as: 1) rest and meal times; 2) time spent cleaning, preparing or turning on equipment; 3) time spent attending training courses and meetings; 4) non-commuting travel time such as driving between jobs; 5) work performed at home (including responding to e-mail); 6) time spent waiting for a job assignment; and 7) time spent for charity work at the employer’s request. In addition, it has not been unknown for automatic time clocks or recording systems to round time and/or automatically deduct breaks whether or not they actually were taken often result in employees working off the clock in violation of federal and state wage laws.

If your employer is violating these off the clock overtime pay laws, you (and other employees) may be entitled to a significant award of back pay. Our attorneys are available to review potential claims in this area of the law at no charge to you. If you believe you may have a claim, click here to send us your information.