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Q: BECAUSE of the economy, I know a lot of people who are getting laid off from work. I might soon be one of them. I am an hourly employee assigned to irregular schedules and I have always felt that I have not been paid for all the hours I worked. I have never before complained because I need the job. But since I’m going to be laid off, I believe I should collect what is rightfully due to me. So how do I determine which of my hours should be paid by my employer?
A: You must first determine what your work hours are to determine if your employer owes you additional compensation. Even if your schedule varies from day to day, there are still ways to determine whether you are working during any given day. The time you spend working is "work time" and must, therefore, be paid.
"Work time" is basically the time an employee spends on activities that are controlled by and for the benefit of the employer. This includes all the time that you are required to be present at the workplace. It also includes your regular "on-the-clock" hours as well as any "off-the-clock" time you spend performing job-related activities which benefit your employer.
Off-the-clock work
Off-the-clock work is performed before or after the designated shift time. For example, employees may "come early" and start working before their official starting time. Or, after the shift, employees may spend time cleaning equipment, or doing "on the way home" activities such as dropping off mail at the post office or delivering some paperwork to a customer. Off-the-clock work may also consist of an extra work hour per day whose value may be significant if the practice persisted for years. An employee who is paid $15 per hour and has accumulated off-the-clock work hours at an average of one hour per day for the last four years may potentially have a wage claim of about $20,000.
Lectures, meetings and training programs
Employees who attend lectures, meetings, and training programs must be paid for the time they do so if all of the following factors are present:
1) Attendance is during the employee’s working hours;
2) Attendance is mandatory or required or the employee is made to understand that non-attendance would adversely affect the employee’s employment;
3) The program is directly related to the employee’s job with the primary purpose of making the employee more efficient at doing his present job; and
4) The employee is performing productive work during attendance at the program.
On-call time
Employees who are "on-call" after their regular work hours may be compensated for work time provided that the employee is restricted while on-call so as to disallow personal pursuits. Some factors to determine whether the employee is restricted or not include:
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