Chicago, Illinois Overtime Pay Law Attorneys
A Regional Law Firm Helping To Recover Owed Wages for Clients Nationwide
The amount of pay due an employee cannot be determined without knowing the total number of hours actually worked by that employee in each workweek. An employee must be paid for all of the time considered to be hours worked and all time that is hours worked must be counted when determining overtime hours worked. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has defined what time is "work" that must be paid by the employer.
The FLSA defines the term "employ" to include the words "suffer or permit to work." Suffer or permit to work means that if an employer requires or allows employees to work, the time spent is generally hours worked. If the hours are considered to be work, then they must be paid by the employer to the employee. Thus, time spent doing work not requested by the employer, but still allowed, is generally hours worked, since the employer knows or has reason to believe that the employees are continuing to work and the employer is benefiting from the work being done. This time is often referred to as "working off the clock."
Werman Law Office has handled cases for workers who have not been properly compensated for time spent working. There are many situations that might lead to an employee not getting paid for work time, including:
- Delivery drivers load a truck, drive to the job site, and then unload the truck. Sometimes, an employer does not begin to pay for the work time until the truck arrives at its destination, so the worker is not paid for the time it took to actually load the truck or to travel to the job site. This is illegal.
- In an office setting, many time clocks are on computer workstations. If an employee has to turn on the computer and wait for the software to load before clocking in, he or she is not being paid for work time. This often happens in call centers and may be illegal.
What Is Work Time?
Unpaid work time is a serious problem. Examples of situations where unpaid work time include time that may or may not be considered hours worked under the FLSA include:
- Pay For Waiting to Work
- Meal Periods And Rest Breaks
- Holidays, Vacations Or Sick Leave
- Pay For On-Call Time
- Waiting Time
- Preliminary And Postliminary Activities
- Sleep Time On the Job
- Show-Up Time
- Travel Time
- Place of Work
Contact A Law Firm To Recover Owed Wages
If you have questions regarding what is considered work time, contact Werman Law Office to learn more about your rights. Prospective clients can schedule an appointment with one of our lawyers by calling 877-743-0399 or by filling out the e-mail form on this website.
