Tampa Working Off-the-Clock Compensation

Sometimes, as an employee, you might agree to do extra work for your employer. Whether you know it or not, you are entitled to compensation for that work. An employer should pay the employee for any time they work even if it is off the clock. The interesting twist in this is if the employer reprimands and directs the employee not to work overtime or not to work off the clock and the employee does it again, then that entitles them to be fired by the employer. When it comes to Tampa off-the-clock compensation, there are many nuances and complexities which is why it is important to contact a qualified off-the-clock lawyer. You deserve to be compensated for your labor, and a determined off-the-clock attorney could fight for a positive outcome for you.

Paying Overtime to Employees Who Are Working Off-the-Clock

If the employer knows they are working off the clock and tells them not to, but continues to allow them to work off the clock, they still have to pay that employee overtime. Even if they told the employee not to work overtime, they should compensate the employee because they are reaping the benefits of an individual’s work and the individual is working more than 40 hours that week. Any time overtime is worked, even if it is against the employer’s demands, they owe that employee time and a half which is why, sometimes, there are policies in place that an individual should not work any overtime.

Being Compensated For Taking Work Home

Taking work home has happened in a couple of off-the-clock work cases. If hourly workers that are non-exempt employees take work home with them and work through the night on it, they are supposed to receive Tampa off-the-clock compensation. If they do not go over 40 hours including the work at home, then an individual is fine but if they go over 40 hours with the work that they are doing at home, then an individual has to pay them as an employer time and a half for all of the hours worked at home.

If the employer does not know that the employee’s working at home, then they may have an argument that they do not have to pay for that overtime but if they know that they gave the employee a big job to do that is going to take all night and it comes in the next morning and it is done, then that knowledge may be constructive or imputed on the employer and they will be expected to know that that work was done at home and that employee needs to be paid overtime for that work done at home. Even if the employee says that they are willing to do it for free, an individual employer still has to pay them the overtime.

Proving Off-the-Clock Work

Proving off-the-clock work is difficult. As an employee and as a plaintiff in these cases, an individual has the burden to prove that they worked overtime. Once a person meets that burden through testimony from the plaintiff or any other witnesses that say they were working more than 40 hours a week, the burden is then on the defendant to show how they kept track of time and the record-keeping to show that the individual did not work more than 40 hours a week.

The reason the statute is set up this way is because the plaintiff does not have the clock-in, clock-out data and they do not have control of the time clock. They do not have control of the record-keeping. That’s why the courts put the burden on the defendant to bring that evidence to show that this employee was only working 40 hours a week, they clocked in, they clocked out and they have proof of every minute that the employee was there.

The employee can still testify that they were told to clock out early and keep working, but if the business owner does not have a way of keeping track of how much time their employees worked, it is almost impossible for them to prove that this employee did not work overtime. That is why individuals who are in the midst of off-the-clock work cases should reach out to experienced off-the-clock lawyers. A skilled attorney can attempt to prove that the employee did work off-the-clock, and could fight for the Tampa off-the-clock compensation that the employee deserves.