Hello, I am a salaried employee that gets overtime. We have a retreat coming up soon and was told it was mandatory to attend. It will start in the middle of the week and end before the weekend. It is only 45 minutes away from home but they have reserved rooms for us all. I don't want to stay over night when I can be home with my family. They want us to hang out and socialize with each other. Like 40-60 hours a week isn't enough. Can they force us to stay after the meetings are over? If so can we be paid for them?

Yes, they can, and if you are nonexempt and it's mandatory, you must be paid. I'm assuming that you are nonexempt, since you mention you receive overtime pay.

thanks for the reply.
Yes I am non-exempt. They can make us go and they have to pay us.
Do they pay us for the entire time we are there or just for the actual meetings?
If they aren't paying us for our time after the meetings how can they make us stay?

thanks for the reply.
Yes I am non-exempt. They can make us go and they have to pay us.
Do they pay us for the entire time we are there or just for the actual meetings?
If they aren't paying us for our time after the meetings how can they make us stay?

You get paid for work hours. If there is a meeting you must attend, you get paid. If there is a "social event" you must attend, you get paid. If the social event is optional, no pay. No pay for time spent sleeping or any other personal time.

You get paid for work hours. If there is a meeting you must attend, you get paid. If there is a "social event" you must attend, you get paid. If the social event is optional, no pay. No pay for time spent sleeping or any other personal time.
The entire time after the meetings is considered social time but you must stay even to sleep in the reserved room. I wouldn't count any of the time as personal time the way I am being forced to stay. They may consider it all personal time, you just can't leave. I guess I will just have to battle it out with them some more. I am sure I will be fired for this.