Is unauthorized overtime work compensable?

Is unauthorized overtime work compensable?

Are we required to pay for unauthorized overtime? Yes. According to §785.11 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations, “Work not requested but suffered or permitted is work time. For example, an employee may voluntarily continue to work at the end of the shift.

Do you have to pay employees for unapproved overtime?

Sometimes, an unspoken rule develops around employees who work unauthorized overtime. After a while, they may be almost expected to put in extra hours for little compensation. This is the type of abuse that the laws are trying to protect against.

What are the rules for overtime for nonexempt employees?

There is a lot of confusion and many misconceptions amongst both employers and employees when it comes to overtime rules. Overtime (according to federal and many states’ laws) is the time a nonexempt employee works over 40 hours in a single workweek. For every hour over 40, that employee must be compensated with 1.5 times his or her normal wage.

What happens if you work over 40 hours without overtime?

Discipline employees for breaking the rule to not work over 40 hours. Ask employees to clock out and continue working. Pressure employees into an unspoken “don’t ask, don’t tell” situation where employees implicitly know they are expected to work more than 40 hours without overtime pay.

How to stop an employee from working unauthorized overtime?

He has an office manager who runs the day-to-day business. My father depends on her totally to run the office, dispatch employees, and handle all bookkeeping. She is paid hourly, and he wants her to work from 8:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m. with a one-hour lunch. He has communicated this to her, but she continues to skip lunch, punch in early and leave late.

Sometimes, an unspoken rule develops around employees who work unauthorized overtime. After a while, they may be almost expected to put in extra hours for little compensation. This is the type of abuse that the laws are trying to protect against.

What happens if an employee refuses to work overtime?

An employee that refuses to work overtime when requested to do so by their employer may be fired or subject to discipline. However, there are some instances where termination of an employee because they refused to work overtime is illegal.

When does an employer have to pay for unapproved hours worked?

29 CFR 785.11. Thus, if an employer knows or has reason to believe an employee is working, even if the time is unauthorized, the employer must pay the employee for the time worked and, maybe more importantly, include the unapproved hours worked in its calculation of overtime hours. Good time and attendance policies do two things:

Can a company discipline an employee for working overtime?

If the company really wants to show that it doesn’t intend to suffer or permit this type of work, and that it really does not want employees to work overtime, it will impose discipline for violations of its overtime policy.