New York City Litigation Lawyers Blog

Overtime pay theft is rampant with some reports saying 19 billion per year in overtime is stolen. What is the reason for this stunning statistic? Why are so many people losing so much money to overtime wage theft? The answer is simple. Companies know that the Department of Labor, the government branch that is supposed to protect workers, is a worthless do nothing government agency. Studies have found that calls for help are not even returned by the Department. In fact, as part of an investigation into the Department's neglect, a caller reported child labor abuses with children being forced to run saws in a meat packing plant during school hours. The call was not even returned. The government does not protect workers and that is why overtime is not paid. See this article explaining in more detail.

Since the government is broken, this means that the private sector has to do the job. It seems like every employment law firm is getting into the overtime pay business. More law firms are needed to help protect workers from overtime pay abuses. Our employment law firm has an office San Francisco and New York City to handle these cases.

Apparently if you add up all the unpaid overtime we do in a year, it means that today is actually the first day of the year that we start making money for ourselves. The TUC calculates that last year five million workers did 12 minutes of unpaid overtime a week, which is worth £27.5 billion or £5,402 each.

Apparently we're supposed to be outraged. When you look at it as working almost two months for nothing, it does make you feel that maybe you are handing over too much to your boss with too little in return.

But hang on, let's get a bit of perspective...

Unpaid overtime is called a few other things, like 'doing what it takes to get the job done', 'going the extra mile', or 'sacrificing a few minutes of your time for the sake of the customer'. The current environment isn't one where any business can afford for everyone to down-tools at the second stipulated in their contract if it leaves a customer in the lurch and potentially loses business. A few minutes overtime is a small price to pay for the survival of our employer.

If you look a little closer, the figures show single women are the most likely to work this overtime, with teachers and lawyers the most likely to be working for nothing. Does this mean teachers should stop giving up their spare time to go to the school Christmas Fayre, or cheer on the football team? Should they be billing the state for the privilege?

And lawyers: traditionally they do these hours because they have to do a certain number of billable hours a week for their employer to be able to balance the books. Sometimes they need to do things they can't bill. So, for example, if a lawyer working for a charity needs to dig out an obscure document from a 100 year history and spends three hours hunting, should they bill the charity almost a thousand pounds, or take the overtime on the chin?

Naturally these things can go far too far. Nine hundred thousand workers do at least 18 hours overtime a week without any extra pay, which is technically known as taking the Micky. 18 hours a week essentially destroys your home life for the sake of your boss. And it's the sort of time that means your employer should be getting you an assistant.

There needs to be more support for people being taken for a ride like this, and they need to be able to stand up to their boss without fear of the consequences.

But 12 minutes a week, who can begrudge that?

And how on earth can anyone be so specific about the number of minutes a day they work for their boss?

The TUC is ignoring the fact that in a lot of workplaces the boundaries of home and work are getting blurred. In the modern world we don't all switch off at the end of the day, we problem solve in the shower, we send the odd email from the train, or read over some papers before we turn out the light. And this isn't a bad thing. It swings both ways. We check Facebook and Twitter during work, we make the odd personal phone call, we arrange nights out and sometimes we just stare into space.

In this environment, to coldly calculate that we work 12 minutes overtime a week makes about as much sense as saying we are stealing from our employer if we nip onto Facebook once a week to send a birthday message.

So by all means lets get angry about those people being pushed to the limit by unfeeling employers who are damaging their home and family life. But if you're really that bothered about 12 minutes a week, you could always take the time to make a cup of tea every day and call it even.