SHIFT BREIFING/START TIME

OUR AGENCY IN THE PAST HAD ALL US START 15 MIN PRIOR TO THE HOUR IN A BREIFING ROOM. WE WERE GIVEN OUR ASSIGNMENT FOR THE SHIFT (WHAT RADIO OR PHONE STATION) WE THEN WENT TO THE COMM CENTER AND SIGNED ON TO COMPUTERS AND STARTED WORK..

A NEW POLICY TO SAVE MONEY RECENTLY STARTED AND WE ARE REQUIRED TO BE AT OUR STATION AND SIGNED ON TO ALL 3-4 COMPUTER SYSTEMS BY THE START OF THE HOUR AND WE NO LONGER GET A 15 MIN BREIFING. WE ARE REQUIRED TO CHECK IN WITH THE SUPERVISOR PRIOR TO STARTING WORK AND GET OUR ASSIGNMENT AND MUST BE SIGNED ON PRIOR TO THE START TIME.

MY QUESTION IS DOES ANY OTHER AGENCY DO THIS? IT SEAMS LIKE WE ARE WORKING ( WHEN WE WALK IN AND ASK FOR OUR ASSIGNMENT SINCE IT CHANGES EVERYDAY AND SIGNING IN SHOULD BE WORK TIME. WE LOST 1 HOUR OF PAY A WEEK, WE WORK 4-10 HOUR SHIFTS. DOES NOT FEEL FAIR.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT OTHER AGENCIES DO.

Your dept. is in violation of Fair Labor Act. Do a web search for DOL.gov it is clear that they are misunderstanding what is considered work time and what is not! Any time you spend doing work it considered work time ie signing in talking to a supervisor to get your assignment Where are you at some ware down south I would guess.

If they wont correct the problem call the department of labor and make a complaint.

FROM THE DOL WEB SITE DEF. OF WORK HRS.

In general, hours worked includes all time an employee must be on duty, or on the employer's premises or at any other prescribed place of work. Also included is any additional time the employee is suffered or permitted (i.e., allowed) to work. Review the definition of hours worked. To learn which work-related activities are considered hours worked, review the FLSA Hours Worked Advisor.

Suffer or Permit to Work
The FLSA defines the term "employ" to include the words "suffer or permit to work". Suffer or permit to work means that if an employer requires or allows employees to work, the time spent is generally hours worked.

Thus, time spent doing work not requested by the employer, but still allowed, is generally hours worked, since the employer knows or has reason to believe that the employees are continuing to work and the employer is benefiting from the work being done. This time is commonly referred to as "working off the clock." If you would like to review an example of suffer or permit to work, please click here.

Rework
When an employee must correct mistakes in his or her work, the time must be treated as hours worked. The correction of errors, or "rework", is hours worked, even when the employee voluntarily does the rework.

Waiting for Work
Time which an employee is required to be at work or allowed to work for his or her employer is hours worked. A person hired to do nothing or to do nothing but wait for something to do or something to happen is still working. The Supreme Court has stated that employees subject to the FLSA must be paid for all the time spent in "physical or mental exertion (whether burdensome or not) controlled or required by the employer and pursued necessarily and primarily for the benefit of the employer of his business."

Place of Work
Hours worked include all the time during which an employee is required or allowed to perform work for an employer, regardless of where the work is done, whether on the employer’s premises, at a designated work place, at home or at some other location.

It is the duty of management to exercise control and see that work is not performed if the employer does not want it to be performed. An employer cannot sit back and accept the benefits of an employee’s work without considering the time spent to be hours worked. Merely making a rule against such work is not enough. The employer has the power to enforce the rule and must make every effort to do so. Employees generally may not volunteer to perform work without the employer having to count the time as hours worked.