Off the Clock Work

In California, employers are required by law to keep track of all the time their hourly employees work and pay their employees for all the time they spend working. Unfortunately, employees are often subjected to working without being paid or “off-the-clock”. This may happen because employers deliberately request that employees work after clocking out or through ways that are less apparent. Even if it may seem to be a minimal amount of time, a few minutes every day can eventually add up to a lot.

Often, employees are unsure if they are supposed to be paid for certain things they do off-the-clock or if it doesn’t cross their mind that they are doing off-the-clock work. For example, if an employer requires their employee to put on (donning) protective equipment before clocking in or take off (dofﬁng) protective equipment after clocking out, that counts as off-the-clock work. Also, if an employee has to spend time booting up their computer or waiting to clock in due to technical difﬁculties with a time clock, that counts as off-the-clock work as well.

Other examples of common off-the-clock work are:

Answering or responding to texts and phone calls
Gathering materials, paperwork, or tools before starting your shift
Cleaning up or throwing away trash after work
Time Keeping system that rounds your start and stop time
On-call time
Certain types of travel time

If you feel you’ve done work off the clock, our attorneys would be glad to help you file a claim for lost wages.