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A LABOR lawyer has revealed a common trick bosses use to have employees perform free work off the clock.
Ryan Stygar – an attorney based in San Diego, California – likes to educate workers about their rights on social media.
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The latest video posted to his Twitter account starts with Stygar picking up some mail at his office.
This reminded him of a sneaky trick many bosses use.
“A lot of employers will tell you after you’ve clocked out that you need to go drop off mail, drop off checks, or run a little errand for them on the way home,” Stygar said.
“They’re doing this when you’re off the clock so that they don’t have to do it and they see it as free labor.”
But as it turns out, this practice is completely illegal.
“If you’re running an errand for your employer, that’s time worked and you have to be paid for that,” Stygar said.
“In some states, like California, they also have to reimburse your mileage.”
Many commenters below the lawyer’s video reiterated his point.
“I do literally nothing work related unless I’m on the clock,” one Twitter user said.
“I don’t even check my work email until I’m getting paid to.”
Another commenter noted that workers are assuming extra risks when they take on a task like this outside their set hours.
“If you get into an accident on the way now your employer isn’t liable unless you can prove you were on the clock,” they said.
But one boss said there’s a correct way to ask employees to complete a task like this.
“I’ve had my assistants leave 15 to 20minutes early to run an errand,” he said.
The boss added that having workers run errands off the clock “is the kind of thing that gets you reported to HR.”
