Off-the-clock work is any work a non-exempt employee does without it being recorded and paid: before clocking in, after clocking out, or during an unpaid break. It is still work, and it is still owed.
| Situation | Why it is work |
|---|---|
| Putting on required protective gear before clock-in | Integral to the job and required by the employer |
| Closing tasks after clock-out | Counting drawers, cleaning, locking up |
| Answering messages from home | The employer receives the benefit |
| Working through an auto-deducted meal break | Not completely relieved from duty |
| Waiting for a manager to approve clock-in | Engaged to wait at the start of the shift |
For the rules on what counts, see compensable time. For the end of the shift specifically, see clock out.
To record clock-ins, breaks and overtime automatically, see EZTime time and attendance software.
A distribution center requires associates to put on protective gear and attend a short safety briefing before reaching the time clock. It takes about 10 minutes. 30 associates do it every shift, about 250 shifts a year each.
That is 30 times 10 minutes times 250, or 1,250 hours a year. At $18 an hour, $22,500 a year at straight time, and more where those minutes push a week past 40 hours. Over a 2-year look-back, $45,000; with an equal amount in liquidated damages, $90,000, before attorney’s fees. If a court finds the violation willful, the look-back is 3 years.
The fix costs far less than the exposure: move the time clock to the locker room entrance, before the gear-up and the briefing. Clock-ins now start when the employer’s requirements start. Security screening is a separate question: federal law generally does not require pay for it, but some states, such as California, do.
An audit is the best way to find off-the-clock work before a claim does. Compare clock records with other records that show when people were working: door badge times, register logins, delivery scans, message timestamps and opening or closing checklists. A gap of a few minutes every day between the first sign of work and the first punch is the pattern to look for.
Check meal breaks too. If a 30-minute break is deducted automatically, there must be an easy way to record a missed or interrupted break, such as a missed-punch form or a request in the time app, and managers must approve those requests, not discourage them.
A nursing home deducts 30 minutes for lunch from every shift over 6 hours. Aides on short-staffed units often eat on the floor while watching residents, and they are not completely relieved from duty.
An audit of call-light records shows aides answering calls during their deducted breaks on about a third of shifts. The home turns on break alerts, asks aides to report any missed break with a missed-punch request that the supervisor approves, and pays every missed break. It also pays back the missed breaks it can identify from the audit.
Not paying for it is. Work the employer suffers or permits must be paid for non-exempt employees, even if it was not requested.
Not for the same employer doing their regular work. If the employer knows or should know the work is happening, it must be paid.
Under the FLSA, 2 years, or 3 years for a willful violation. State laws may allow longer.
An additional amount equal to the unpaid wages that the FLSA allows a court to award on top of the wages themselves.
Report the time to their manager or payroll, with the dates and what they did, and ask for a correction. Employers should make that easy and never penalize it.
Edits should reflect the time actually worked, with a reason and an approver recorded. Editing out time that was worked is a common cause of wage claims.
Employees clock in by mobile GPS, web, kiosk or NFC, with geofencing, break alerts and missed-punch requests that keep an audit trail.