staying after shift ends

[shyann]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? alabama

my department supervisor is requiring all employees on our shift to stay after our shift ends, without pay, for a meeting. this meeting lasts anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes..although this is not a lot of time i feel this is not right since no other shift is asked to...what course of action should i take?

 

[Beth3]

Maybe nothing. While it's true that non-exempt (hourly paid) employees must be paid for all time worked (which includes mandatory meeting time), federal Department of Labor guidelines also all employers to institute reasonable "rounding off" practices, as long as they do not unduly favor employees.

There are a number of ways to do this but let me give you an example. Let's say employees where you work are paid in 1/6th of an hour (10 minute) increments. If you arrive late to work by up to 9 minutes but are still paid from the start of your shift (i.e. your employer "rounds back"), they can do the same at the end of the shift. So if you are required to stay over for up to 10 minutes, they need not pay you for that time.

Since I don't know what your employer's rounding off practices are, I have no idea whether they actually need to pay you for the time. What I can tell you is that that this meeting time should be reflected on your timecard. Whether the time has to be paid is another matter.

Do you have a human resources department? If so, you should ask them about this.

 

[azgrandpa]

Do you really want to bite the hand that feeds you! How long do you think you will be welcome there after you take whatever "action" you can take?

Quit trying to make the world FAIR & EQUAL! It just isn't going to happen.
Be happy you got a job. There's a lot of people out there just waiting to take your place! So, if you are fed up with your job; then go ahead and take "action"!!

Have a nice day!

 

[shyann]

if we clock in after our shift starts...we are late...they use 15 minute increments to calculate time...in the department i used to work in, if we stayed late we got an extra 15 minutes. i am not comfortable going to human resources...the people at this place find ways to get rid of people when they get crossed...i'm already on the department manager's #@%& list...he found out i got an interview for another job...i have worked at this place for over 15 years and i have seen people get the axe for crossin' the boss...

 

[Beth3]

if we clock in after our shift starts...we are late Of course you are late; you were expected to be at work at a certain time. That's not the question however. The question is how is that time paid? If you are not paid until beginning of the next 1/4 hour, then your employer has to "round forward" at the end of the shift. So if your shift ends at 3pm and you work (or attend a meeting) until 3:02pm, they have to pay you to 3:45pm.

You don't want to go to HR and you don't want to say something to the boss. So what exactly do you want to do to resolve this?

 

[shyann]

i see what your saying about the clocking in and out....we do not get paid for time we were late....i guess i'll just shut up and skip the meetings until they fire me and then get a lawyer....

 

[Beth3]

i guess i'll just shut up and skip the meetings until they fire me and then get a lawyer....

If they fire you for refusing to go to the meetings, that doesn't give you any basis to sue. It would be a perfectly justifiable termination (insubordination.) The illegality is if you attend the meeting(s) and they fail to pay you for the time, given the rounding off practices you describe. If that happens, you are free to file a complaint with your State's Department of Labor. And while retalliation for doing that is prohibited, if you think you're on the boss's **** list now, obviously it's going to get worse if you go to the government over something that quite possibly could have been resolved very simply internally. Many supervisors and managers are completely ignorant of wage and hour laws. My advice would be to go to HR and ask them to address this but to keep your name out of it. Odds are they'll be grateful that they can intevene and make sure the time is paid before a wage and hour violation occurs.

Your choice of course.

 

[shyann]

thank you for your input