Target Store Manager Fired for Working Off the Clock

Last week, Dave Jamieson reported in the Huffington Post that a former manager of a Target store has sued the company because he was fired for working off the clock!  According to the lawsuit, the manager would routinely be bothered to answer work questions or solve problems while out on a lunch break.  Because the company time clock would not allow him to clock back in until he had been out for at least 30 minutes, the manager would lose valuable time he should have earned pay for.  Adding insult to injury, when the manager asked about being compensated about the time he was told that the company did not allow overtime so he would have to try to find some way to take another break later in his shift.   

Folks, this is a serious and very common problem!  The reason Target instituted a policy against working off the clock is to prevent employees from doing it.  Why?  Because Target is liable to pay wages for the time worked even if the employee clocks out.  The company wanted to avoid this problem by making it against the rules to work overtime.    

Whether you agree with Target or the manager who got fired, here are the two things you need to take away from this story:

(1) If you are aware your employees are working over time off the clock – you have to pay them for it.  You cannot just sweep it under the rug and pretend like it didn’t happen.  Even if you don’t “actually know” about the over time, you can still be liable for it if you have reason to know – like another supervisor is aware of it but hasn’t said anything. 

(2) Having a policy that employees are not allowed to work overtime is OK and understandable – but you still have to pay the employee for the overtime they worked before you fire them.

Keep a look out and train your supervisors to be on the watch for this phenomenon.