My wife is an hourly employee. Her pay period is every two weeks and is based on 80 hours. She works 8-5 M-F with one hour for lunch off the clock.

Her pay never matches the hours shown on her pay stub. The stub shows 82.2 hours, she gets paid for 80. Her employer says that no overtime was "pre-authorized".

She arrives on time and normally clocks in a minute or two early and is actually productive at 8am. In the evening she normally reaches as good stopping point and clocks out between 5 sharp and a couple of minutes later.

Because of this (nonpay), she is now deliberately sitting at her desk with her hands in her lap and clocks in at eight sharp. At five sharp she drops whatever she is doing irregardless of importance and clocks out.

She doesn't like playing it that way because she has a strong work ethic. Her employer is also starting to make noises about "attitude" and "being a team player".

Questions:

Is the practice of not paying for time on the clock over 80 (not even straight time let alone overtime) legal?

Any advice on how to address it with a degree of diplomacy so as to get paid, be productive, and not spoil what should be a good working relationship?

Thanks.
Phil

My wife is an hourly employee. Her pay period is every two weeks and is based on 80 hours. She works 8-5 M-F with one hour for lunch off the clock.

Her pay never matches the hours shown on her pay stub. The stub shows 82.2 hours, she gets paid for 80. Her employer says that no overtime was "pre-authorized".

She arrives on time and normally clocks in a minute or two early and is actually productive at 8am. In the evening she normally reaches as good stopping point and clocks out between 5 sharp and a couple of minutes later

If she was clocking in just a min. or two early & productive at 8am & clocks out at 5pm or a couple of min. later, where does the 82.2 hrs. come from? Has she been working additional unauthorized overtime on some days? Has she been clocking in early from lunch & working? She has to be paid for all hours/time worked but she can be disciplined up to & including being fired for working OT not authorized.

What type of work does your wife do & what type of place does she work at (not actual name of place)?

Or

Are you saying she is clocking in early & working & clocking out late & working up to clocking out which adds up to the 82.2 hrs. (2.2 add'l. hrs.) The couple of min. early (& being productive at 8am) & the couple of min. late noted by you do not add up to 2.2 hrs. add'l.

If she was clocking in just a min. or two early & productive at 8am & clocks out at 5pm or a couple of min. later, where does the 82.2 hrs. come from? It was a number I used as an example. The point being that her pay stub actually acknowleges the additional time. Thus, it means a human being has decided that she won't get paid for over 80 hours.

Has she been working additional unauthorized overtime on some days? Has she been clocking in early from lunch & working? Not deliberately. From what she tells me she's normally back at her desk five minutes early (don't want to be late) and she works until there's a good stopping point for the day.

She has to be paid for all hours/time worked but she can be disciplined up to & including being fired for working OT not authorized. Interesting. I am not looking to get her fired. But she is frustrated over the issue. It's not much, but it is the principle of the thing. Is there a good source of actual regulations that you know of? Maybe if she showed the regs to her boss....

What type of work does your wife do & what type of place does she work at (not actual name of place)? She is the accounts payable/receivable clerk at a corporate hq for a convenience store chain. She is already doing way more than what they told her when hired. It really isn't about the money. It's almost a recognition or respect thing I think. She does very good work in a stressful office. And by not paying her she feels disrespected. The amount of money involved sure isn't that much at all.

Or

Are you saying she is clocking in early & working & clocking out late & working up to clocking out which adds up to the 82.2 hrs. (2.2 add'l. hrs.) The couple of min. early (& being productive at 8am) & the couple of min. late noted by you do not add up to 2.2 hrs. add'l. Like I said, the 82.2 was an example number. The point is that there is a noted discrepancy between the number of hours clocked in and working, and the number of hours paid.

Thanks for the answers. I appreciate the time you took. I'm trying to help her because she is upset at what she sees as a personal slight. She's one of those workers whose identity is wrapped up in the results she gets. So, instead of clocking in and socializing, she clocks in and works.

Thanks again.
Phil

She has to be paid for all hours actually worked - all hours on her pay stub. However; as I noted, she can be disciplined for working unauthorized overtime though.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs22.pdf