Back log of work

leadvisor

Can an employer require exempt (professional) employees to work 4 hours over and above a normal 8 hour shift in order to catch up a back log of work? These are employees that come in early, work over lunch, stay late whenever needed and maintain a rotating on call schedule. But now the boss is requiring them to pick one night per week that they must work from 5-9 after working 8-5. The back log is not the employees fault.

NaeNae55

Employers can require exempt employees to work 24/7. An hourly employee is paid for the hours they work. An exempt employee is paid for the job they do, regardless of the time involved.

Most employers recognize the morale issue of requiring too many long hours on a continuous basis. In the short run, however, most would expect their employees to be willing to chip in and do all they can to keep us responsible to our clients.

Still Need Coffee

I agree with Nae - you can, technically, require an exempt employee to work whenever you want, but you need to carefully balance that with employee burn-out, morale issues, and other employee considerations.