Your employer violates the law if your employer requires you to work without recording your work time. Being asked to work off the clock means work that the employer does not pay you for because your time is not recorded in the company’s timekeeping system. You are entitled to pay for this work even though your employer did not record this time. Your employer must compensate you for all time you work for your employer. Your employer must pay you for your work no matter when or where you work. For example, your employer must pay you for work you perform at your work location, and/or away from your work location.

This can be a gray area for many employees, in that they think they are going to be paid and the employer fails to pay. Your employer is legally obligated to pay you even if the employer asks you to work after hours and after you have been officially signed out of the timekeeping system.

The employer may ask you and others to work extra off the clock hours as a favor, but this is still illegal.

Establishing Your Work Time

In an ideal world, you could refuse to work off the clock hours without pay while not clocked into the timekeeping system. However, a boss or supervisor often tells you and other employees not to enter specific time into the timekeeping system or not to record overtime hours even though you work them. We can help you recover pay for these off the clock hours.

In order to get the money for wages that is owed to you, you do not need to keep specific records of the off the clock hours you worked. The law requires that the employer track all employee work hours and pay for them. If the employer fails to track all work hours, then we can use your best memory to estimate the number of unpaid hours you worked. We can also establish your work hours through other means such as emails, phone records, badge swipes, and computer logs.

Keep Documentation If You Can

It is our experience that your employer will consistently require you to work off the clock hours once your supervisor first requires you to do so. Also, many employers will tell you and other employees to not record overtime hours when you begin employment or as of a specific date. If possible, you should keep track of the hours you work off the clock. You can do this by handwritten notes, on the computer, or by any other way. Again, you do not need to track your unpaid hours to ultimately get paid for them.

Further, you should keep track and a copy of any emails, texts, or calls that come from anyone at the company who requires you to work without being clocked in. You can also take pictures with your phone. This can be key evidence to later establish that your employer knew that your were working and your employer should pay you for this time.

Talk to a Lawyer to Get the Wages You Earned

You should contact an employment lawyer to obtain the wages for which you have worked hard to earn. If your employer hasn’t paid you for your work, chances are, your employer never will. A lawyer can help you recover the money your employer owes you for your wages.

At Rowdy Meeks Legal Group LLC, we know you deserve the wages you worked for and earned. We understand it is difficult and intimidating to take on your employer. We are very experienced in recovering wages for off the clock hours for employees against the nation’s largest companies. We will work hard to get you what you have earned. We will fight for your wages. We take all such cases on contingency which means that you do not pay anything until the case settles or we win at trial. It does not cost you any money to begin your case.

Call us today for a free case assessment and to discuss how we can recover the wages you have earned.