What Unpaid Wage / Overtime Claims Can Be Brought
Off The Clock Work

Employers sometimes ask their employees to work "off the clock." This may arise because the employer wants to keep overtime costs down. Other times, employers will tell the employee that they should have gotten their work done in the hours they were clocked in so they make them clock out and finish the work. Still other employers will have pre-shift meetings, require training classes that benefit the employer, call special meetings after hours or on weekends, or otherwise ask an employee to work without clocking in. Yet a final way for employers to allow employees to work "off the clock" is to tell them that the hours they worked were not approved in advance and won't be paid for.

If any of these situations apply to you, you are probably entitled to unpaid wages and/or overtime for the hours that you worked and that were not included in your paycheck. For example, if you had a morning meeting each week that lasted 30 minutes, you are probably entitled to pay for 30 more minutes of work per week. If you were told to clock out and keep working, you are entitled to be paid for the time that you worked.

See the "What are Hours Worked?" page for a more detailed discussion what hours should count as "hours worked."

If you have been working off the clock (like attending meeting that don't count as hours worked in a day) and would like discuss this matter with a lawyer, please call us or fill out our questionnaire and we will call you.