The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that an employee may not be employed for more than 40 hours in a workweek without receiving at least one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for any hours worked above 40 hours in a workweek. The term “employed” is defined as time an employee is required to be on the employer’s premises, on duty or at an assigned workplace. It also includes work an employee does that is not requested by the employer but is suffered or permitted by the employer. Suffered or permitted work hours are compensable work hours.
Some examples of suffered or permitted work time are:
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An employee who want to finish an assigned task and continues to work at the end of his shift
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An employee who takes work home with her in order to correct errors
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An employee who voluntarily works through lunch, remaining at his desk answering phone calls
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An employee who clocks out at the end of his workday, but continues to wait on a customer
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An employee who answers emails throughout the evening, while watching television with her family
In all of these cases, the employer knows or has reason to believe that the employee is continuing to work, and this time is compensable working time. Employers cannot accept the benefits of this work without compensating for it. Companies must set policies prohibiting off-the-clock work, and then management MUST enforce these policies.