You work for your employer in order to make money for your family. In other words, if you choose to spend your time volunteering, you would rather do it volunteering for your church, or Habitat for Humanity, or the Red Cross. Unfortunately, when employers make employees work “off the clock”, that is exactly what they are doing—forcing their employees to volunteer their time. This is unlawful under California’s wage and overtime laws.
Working Off the Clock
Non-exempt employees are entitled to compensation for every hour they work, to a minimum wage for each of those hours, to overtime compensation when they work more than eight hours in a workday, and to double wages when they work more than twelve hours in a workday. Employers try to get around these laws—and around having to pay overtime—by knowingly compelling their employees to work without pay.
Some examples of working off the clock include
- Not paying an employee for hours spent picking up or preparing work equipment, materials, or supplies before they go to a job site;
- Not paying an employee for hours spent maintaining or logging equipment;
- Not paying an employee for hours spent driving from job site to job site, making deliveries, or traveling from a site to the office;
- Not paying an employee for time spent inspecting an employee’s work, or making them redo their work;
- Not paying an employee for time spent entering data or placing orders for a job;
- Not paying an employee for time spent preparing or cleaning a job site, or returning equipment or materials after a job;
- Failing to provide an employee with meal or rest breaks.
Terminix Technicians May Be Working Off the Clock
If you have been employed as a Terminix Technician in the past four years, you probably feel like you have a relationship with your truck. You spend hours a day loading your truck with the equipment and chemicals you need for the day, maintaining and fueling it up, and sitting it while you receive your assignments and drive from site to site.
Unfortunately, we’ve learned that for many Technicians, Terminix may not be properly counting these hours toward their hours worked. As a result of this “off the clock” work, Technicians may be owed a significant amount of unpaid overtime wages.
Contact Moss Bollinger
Making an employee work off the clock is unlawful in California. If you have been a Terminix Technician in the past four years, you may be entitled to damages. We take allegations of wage theft seriously and want to help you determine if you have a claim. Contact Moss Bollinger today. We charge no fees up front and do not get paid unless you do. Call us at 866-942-7974 to schedule a free consultation or complete our online form.