Legal Question in Employment Law in Pennsylvania

paid work time vs. expected unpaid work time

My husband works for a construction company that will notify its worker of changed policies during company meetings. One of the changed policies was that the men were expected to be on the job site and ready to work at 7:00 and leave at the end of the 8 hour work day at 3:30. If the job requires a company truck to be loaded with materials for that day, he is expected to come in early enough to get the truck loaded and be on site working by 7:00. He cannot charge the loading / prep time and can only charge his driving time one way for the job. Then at the end of the day, the truck must be returned to the shop and unloaded or loaded. All after the 3:30 stop work time. Again this is time that he is not allowed to charge for. When he does, he gets ''questioned''. What is the law about paid work time?


Asked on 3/18/08, 5:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Roger Traversa Arjont Group (Law Office of Roger Traversa)

Re: paid work time vs. expected unpaid work time

You asked about exempt versus non-exempt work.

An employer is required to comply with both state and federal laws regarding wage and hour laws. Normally employees who are subject to overtime for hours worked over forty per week are referred to as non-exempt whereas employees that are not subject to overtime are referred to as exempt employees.

Non-exempt employees must be paid according to the law for all time engaged in work for the employer. It does not matter whether the work is subsequently billable to a downstream party (customer).

In the situation you describe, employees properly classified as exempt would not be eligible for overtime pay whereas employees classified as non-exempt must be paid overtime for all hours worked. Yes, this would include loading and unloading the truck and driving from and to the shop.

The employee should contact a lawyer to evaluate the situation in more detail.

Regards,

Roger

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Answered on 3/18/08, 10:34 pm


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