Working Hard or Hardly Working

 

Q: Here's the situation: An employee is required to punch a timeclock, and is required to come in to work for one hour only on one day a week; the other days are regular eight-hour days. Is this employee required to be paid some minimum number of hours--or is the one-hour-only permissible?

A: Mercy. It does seem a tad inconvenient to be forced to don work togs for one short hour. But there is nothing illegal about it. Wage and hour laws generally regulate your right to be paid fairly and on time. Not one of them sets out a minimum number of hours you must toil at one stretch.

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