Defining Hours Worked Under Overtime Law

Many employers like to think “work” is defined as the amount of hours on an employee’s schedule and therefore, are only required to compensate an employee according to the number of hours for which he or she was “clocked in.”  The FLSA, or Fair Labor Standards Act, however, defines “work” very differently.  Unfortunately, many employers fail to understand or even intentionally ignore the terms of the FLSA, and as a result, deny their employees the wages that they legally earned.

According to federal law under the FLSA, the number of hours worked is defined as the time spent performing job-related activities that (1) benefit your employer, (2) that your employer knows, or has reason to believe you are performing, or (3) your employer does not prohibit you from doing.  Such activities include off-the-clock work such as:

• Maintaining/cleaning equipment before or after your shift
• Staying late without recording the time
• Doing job-related paperwork at home
• Making/responding to job-related telephone calls or emails
• Making work-related bank deposits before or after your shift
• Working through meals

If these activities are part of your job, but you are not being compensated for them, you may have legal recourse to collect financial compensation. Working off the clock and similar violations of federal wage and hour law can deprive an employee of both straight pay, as well as overtime compensation. In fact, failure to properly count all hours worked can add up to significant amounts of unpaid overtime wages over the course of a year. To find out if you may be eligible to participate in an unpaid overtime lawsuit, contact our overtime attorneys today through the free consultation form on the right.