Is it legal to not pay employee for the time they actually work?
If you work for a company where your hours are 8-5 M-F with an hour lunch, is it legal for them to not pay you if you clock in early for your shift? Is it legal for them to deduct a full hour from your pay for lunch if you don't take a full hour? I live and work in Columbus, OH. I was told by my supervisor that no matter what you get charged for an hour lunch. I was also told that they view clocking in early as unapproved overtime and therefore do not pay it. Until I noticed problems this information was not given to me.
Law & Legal - 5 Answers
People's Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
Answer 1 :
Many companies have rules about approving/authorizing overtime. If you are not scheduled to work the extra time, they don't have to pay you. Sorry! That's probably not what you wanted to hear, but that's the way it is.
Answer 2 :
No it isn't, but many companies play the game until someone sues them. ~ They expect extra time to be put in which they have no intention to pay for.
Answer 3 :
the other guy is right-you cant get payed for O.T thats not scheduled srry
Answer 4 :
Hi. I'm an office manager for a company based in California. Let me see if I can help you out here from my experience. The laws in your state of Ohio may differ, however. 1. If your hours are 8am-5pm, you really should not clock in till 8am. You can come in early, but technically you are on your own time until your actual start time of 8:00am. If your employer asks you to come in earlier to work, then yes, you have been asked and you should clock in and get paid for that additional time, even if it falls into the overtime category. Just like if you are asked to work past 5pm, you should be paid for that additional time. If you choose to stay past 5pm, but are not asked, you are on your own time. You are supposed to stop your work at 5pm and clock out, and pick up the next day where you left off. 2. If your hours are 8am-5pm, you are entitled to a one-hour lunch break, which you take at some point in that day. If you chose to not take the full hour, that is your option. Again, if your employer asks you to cut your lunch short to come back to finish a project, then you would clock back in at that time and should be compensated. Some companies will actually request their employees to not clock in until the 8am hour. I worked for such a company. I would arrive at 7:45am to get settled in at my desk, and then go downstairs at 7:59am to wait till exactly 8am to clock in. That was their policy they enforced due to exactly what you speak of. While it is good that you are dependable and show up to work earlier, for an employer it's about the bottom line...payroll expenses. I hope I have helped to answer your question. Good luck.
Answer 5 :
If the US Department of Labor audited the time clock they would fine the company and you would get paid. If you are on the clock you get paid. This is spelled out in the Fair Labor Standards Act. (Look up this act on the web and show it to your boss) Do you clock out and in at lunch time? If so, they are again required to pay you for all time on the clock. Many companies have this problem. Those that are acting within the law tell employees that they may not clock in more than about 5 minutes early, that they must clock in/out for lunch and that they may not clock out more than 5 minutes late. They generally have a form for permission to work overtime. Employees disregarding this policy are generally written up for failure to follow company policy. The reason is that the company may not alter time clock records and they wind up having to pay for unauthorized overtime which is expensive at time and a half. Before you do anything, check your employee handbook to see what it says about the time clock.
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