WASHINGTON D.C — Employees who are not exempt under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are entitled to pay for every overtime hour their employer “suffers or permits” them to work. This standard usually compels employers to pay for extra hours. FLSA requires employers to pay non-exempt employees time and a half for overtime hours worked. An employee is entitled to overtime after working 40 hours in a week. Some states have a daily overtime standard, which entitles employees to overtime if they work more than eight hours in a day.
Hours Suffered or Permitted
Under FLSA, employers must pay for any overtime hours it “suffers or permits” the employee to work. Naturally, this includes overtime the employee is explicitly required or requested to work. This may come as a supervisor’s request for an employee to work an extra shift, or when an employee is regularly scheduled to work over forty hours a week. These are the most typical instances when employees are entitled to overtime pay.
However, there are certain instances when overtime is properly earned that is neither required nor requested by an employer. In these instances, any overtime the employer knows or should know about must be compensated. This would include instances where, for example:
- An employer requires employees to “clock out” before putting away inventory and closing the store at night, so this time for closing procedures isn’t recorded;
- A supervisor assigns work to an employee right before the close of business, then asks the employee to have it completed by the start of the following business day;
- A supervisor regularly receives work-related email and phone messages from employees in the evening and on weekends and is expected by upper management to respond to those messages.
Employers may try to avoid having to compensate employees for overtime work they didn’t request or know about by instituting a policy that requires employees to get permission for overtime work. These policies may indicate that unauthorized overtime will not be compensated. However, unauthorized overtime work may still be considered compensable overtime work under FLSA even if the employee didn’t get permission first if he or she “suffered or permitted” the work.
Unauthorized Overtime
Employers may discipline employees for working unauthorized overtime. The company may try to show that it really does not intend for employees to work overtime by will imposing disciplinary actions for violations of its overtime policy. The employer may still have to pay the employee for the overtime work during the first few instances that the policy is violated. However, if the employee continues to work unauthorized overtime and is consistently disciplined for it, the employer will likely be able to show that it did not suffer or permit this overtime work and, therefore, does not need to compensate the employee for it.
If you or someone you know is not being paid overtime as required by FLSA, you should call (855) 754-2795 or complete the Free Unpaid Overtime Case Review form on the top right of this page. Our top rated team of wage lawyers will evaluate your situation to determine your best course of action. We will also determine if it is in your best interest to file a lawsuit against your employer. There are strict time limitations for filing so it is important that you call our experienced attorneys today.