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Time worked “off-the-clock” - Are you being paid for work you do at home?

Sometimes, there is simply not enough time to finish your work during normal work hours, and many employees end up taking work home or completing work assignments after the clock out. You might not realize that the time spent on these tasks is usually compensable. For non-exempt employees under the FLSA, work done at home or off the clock should be compensated according to the federal labor laws.

Do you perform any of the following tasks before 8:00 AM or after 5:00 PM:

• Reading and responding to work e-mails
• Taking online training courses
• Preparing sales reports 
• Organizing work materials
• Reviewing work orders for the next day
• Logging onto your company's website from home

If so, you may be entitled to compensation for such activities for the last three years.

Case in Point
Black and Decker

Last week, a federal appellate court ruled in favor of a Black and Decker employee regarding his claim that he was doing work at home without pay. The appellate court (Second Circuit Court of Appeals) referred to this time worked at home as "off the clock" time because the employee essentially punched out on the time clock for the day, but continued to perform work-related activities at home. The panel of judges ruled that the former Black and Decker employee is allowed to pursue a claim that his supervisors wrongfully forced him to submit incorrect time sheets after ordering him not to record overtime hours.

Black and Decker claimed that the employee's own time records that he submitted demonstrated that he worked only 40 hours per week. But the employee gave a different version of events. The employee claimed that his supervisor discouraged him from reporting the correct hours (often 45 to 50) in order to make his department look more productive and profitable. Under those facts, the court said that the employee should be allowed to bring his case forward and make a claim for the unpaid time working at home.

In addition to synching his personal data assistant PDA, the employee performed several other activities at his home office, which included:

• checking voicemail,
• reading and responding to company emails,
• printing and reviewing sales reports, 
• organizing point-of-purchase materials for B&D products, 
• taking online training courses, 
• and loading and unloading his car.

The employee testified that it took him 30 minutes to an hour to complete these at-home work activities. This adds up to as much as 5 hours per week or 260 hours per year of unpaid wages.

The trial court certified the case as a collective action and 130 other retail specialists at Black & Decker joined the suit during the period between 2006 to 2007. His job consisted of making sure that products were properly stocked and priced at Home Depot stores near his home.

In case you missed them, read our articles to learn more about wage and overtime claims:

Wage and Overtime 101: Part One - Overtime and Wage Violations: No Industry is Immune
Wage and Overtime 101: Part Two - The Basics of Overtime and Wage Claims under the FLSA
Wage and Overtime 101: Part Three - Wage and Overtime Lawsuits - Your Options
Wage and Overtime 101: Part Four - Basic Timeline of a Wage and Overtime Lawsuit