Tampa Working Off the Clock Without Pay Lawyer

Working Off the Clock Without Pay Attorney

If You Were Working Off the Clock, You Could Be Entitled to Missed Wages

Every non-exempt employee, including all hourly paid employees, must be paid for every minute they spend doing their jobs. If the hours worked fall into the category of overtime, non-exempt workers should receive time-and-a-half pay. In no situation should employees perform work for their employers “on their own dime” or “off the clock.” If you’ve done the work, you deserve the pay. Our Tampa working off the clock without pay lawyer can help you seek the compensation you deserve. Call today to speak with an experienced unpaid overtime attorney at the Feldman Legal Group.

An employer cannot turn a blind eye to any practice in which employees are voluntarily working off the clock or are being coerced into working off the clock, whether from their homes or from the employer’s offices. Furthermore, employees taking phone calls, responding to emails, or being on call at the employer’s premises should log all such hours. Employers then must submit payment for all hours worked.

If your employer requires or allows you to work, that time is generally considered hours worked and must be paid. Every employer has a legal duty to investigate whether employees are working off the clock, meaning they are not being paid for all hours worked.

Get the Pay You Deserve: Contact a Skilled Tampa Work Off the Clock Overtime Lawyer

Led by Attorney Mitchell Feldman, the team at Feldman Legal Group focuses on helping workers whose employers are not following employment law. This is not an area where most attorneys practice. For this reason, it is important for you to select an employment attorney who has experience and can deliver the level of service you deserve to have. Employment laws and working off-the-clock laws can be tricky to understand, and general practice attorneys may not have the experience to deal with every situation that they may encounter while representing you. Our team has a background you can trust.

Attorney Feldman has more than two decades of experience representing working people who are receiving unfair treatment from employers. Feldman Legal Group practices in both Florida and Georgia, and Attorney Feldman has handled cases in both state and federal courts in these two states. Some of Attorney Feldman’s awards and accolades include:

• AV Preeminent Rating from Martindale-Hubbell
• Lead Counsel Verified
• Top 100 The National Trial Lawyer
• 0 Rating Avvo
• Elite Lawyer Award.

How Our Tampa Working Off the Clock Without Pay Attorney Can Help You

We know that employment law cases often can be quite complex. Employers who are cheating their employees out of wages and who are violating working off the clock laws rarely make it easy for victims of this unfair treatment to find the evidence needed to bring a claim. That’s where the experience of our team enters the picture.

Some employers have an unwritten rule that hourly employees work extra hours off the clock in order to complete job tasks, to hit goals, or to hit quotas. As trusted work off the clock overtime attorneys in Tampa, we know such unlawful unwritten rules are commonly called a “de facto” policy by an employer. Trust us: Such terminology doesn’t make the process legal. Does your employer do any of the following?

Telling employees they are “salaried,” so it does not matter if they clock in or out, as all they are getting paid is their salary. In reality, however, the employee may not be an exempt employee.

Instructing hourly employees to only record a set number of hours worked per day or week when the employee is working more or to fill in no more than 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week.

Telling employees that the company does not care how many hours they work, it is only paying for 40, or telling the employees any overtime is “on their dime.”

Paying hourly employees only by their scheduled hours and not their hours actually worked. Such employers rely on estimated, pre-populated numbers about hours of work rather than actual work hours to pay employees.

In a call center setting, paying employees only for time spent on the phone and not for time spent on other work-related activities, such as booting up their computers, opening applications, and reviewing work-related email messages.

Not paying hourly employees for time spent responding to emails and voicemails while outside of the office or for other work-related activities performed away from the worksite.

Not paying employees who have to take or make phone calls outside of the office or requiring employees to prepare reports or other things over the weekend in preparation for Mondays.

Instructing hourly employees to clock out of the timekeeping system but having them continue to work.

If you are experiencing any of the following situations at your place of employment, consider reaching out to our working off the clock without pay lawyers in Tampa. We want to hear about your case today.

MEAL PERIODS

Employers aren’t required to provide meal breaks. However, depending on the length of the meal break and the requirements of the employee during that period, time spent on a meal break might still be considered “on the clock.”

REST BREAKS

Under federal law, an employer need not provide rest breaks to its employees. However, rest breaks that are provided are considered hours worked and must be paid.

HOLIDAY, VACATIONS AND SICK TIME

Any time you take off for a holiday, vacation, or illness need not be included in calculating your total hours worked for purposes of determining whether you are owed overtime compensation.

TRAINING TIME

Employees who attend required events, conventions, trade shows, seminars, training programs, or training events require the employees to be paid for all such time unless it falls outside regular work hours, is voluntary, isn’t directly job-related, or requires the employee to do no productive work.

TIME SPENT “ON-CALL”

If you are required to be available by email or telephone or if you are required to be unable to leave a location, you might be entitled to be paid for the time your employer asks you to be available or “on-call.”

ON DUTY WAITING TIME

If you are on duty and engaged and not waiting to be engaged, then you must be paid for this time. For example, a limo driver who is required to park the vehicle during a shift near an airport and to be readily available to take passengers is engaged to be waiting and not waiting to be engaged. This is “on-duty” waiting time.

OFF-DUTY WAIT TIME

While employees are not owed pay for off-duty wait time, it’s easy for an employer to misclassify on-duty wait time as off-duty wait time. Employees should know that the four tests for off-duty wait time are as follows.

• You are completely relieved from duty.
• The periods of waiting time are long enough to enable you to use the time effectively for your own purposes.
• You are told in advance by your employer that you may leave the job.
• Your employer advises you of the time that you are required to return to work.

TRAVEL TIME

Time spent traveling from home to work and from work to home is generally not compensable work time. However, traveling to various customers, clients, or stores may be compensable. If travel is central to your job responsibilities, travel time might be considered compensable and paid for by your employer rather than considered off the clock for calculating overtime pay.

Giving Employees “Comp Time” in Lieu of Overtime Is Unlawful

Compensatory time, or “comp time,” occurs when an employer allows an employee to receive hours or days off in lieu of overtime compensation. Generally, non-exempt employees are eligible for overtime pay when their work time exceeds 40 hours per week.

While it might be tempting for employers to think of total time worked in a pay period, it is ultimately unfair for workers. For example, if an employer requires an employee to work 50 hours one week and 30 the next, the employee should still be paid overtime for the extra 10 hours of work during the first week.

Additionally, a private employer cannot ask an employee to record their hours worked as being worked on a different day of the following week to avoid overtime from being paid or incurred.

Contact Our Tampa Working Off the Clock Without Pay Attorney

Talk to our Tampa working off the clock without pay lawyer at Feldman Legal Group for an assessment of your case. Our experienced team will determine if you deserve compensation for the time you worked and were not paid. We aggressively represent our client’s rights and are ready to go to trial on your behalf if necessary. Contact us today at (813) 639-9366 to discuss your case.