Prep before the doors open. Cleanup after close. Answering messages on your day off. Mandatory meetings, trainings, or waiting on a late manager to cash you out. Under federal law, all of it is working time — and working time must be paid.
What counts as compensable time
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires pay for all hours an employer “suffers or permits” you to work. That includes side work, donning required gear, security checks, travel between job sites during the day, and short breaks under 20 minutes. If the employer knows the work is happening and accepts the benefit, it owes the wage.
How off-the-clock time disappears
- Clock-in rounded forward, clock-out rounded back
- Auto-deducted lunch breaks you actually worked through
- “Finish your side work after you clock out”
- Timecards edited by managers to cut hours
No perfect records? You still have a case
When an employer fails to keep accurate time records, courts let workers prove hours with reasonable estimates — schedules, texts, POS logs, even your own notes. The record-keeping burden is on the employer, not you.
If your hours and your paycheck do not match, tell us what happened. The review is free and confidential.
