Do we have to pay OT when employee came to work when no one else here? 11-06-2008

Are we required to pay an employee for work time that was not approved? Our facility is open during set hours Monday thru Friday and some Saturdays (never on Sunday). A non-exempt employee had requested to work Overtime on a Sunday and her supervisor had told her this was not approved. However, the employee still went to work on Sunday and worked 6 hours which she put on her timesheet. Are we required to pay her for these hours? And if so, can we pay her "straight time" or do we have to pay time and a half since she worked more than 40 hours?

Rita Risser Replies:

This is a close call. You couldn't very well stop her since no one was there. How do you even know she worked 6 hours? Does she have 6 hours of output to show for it? The safest thing would be to pay her (yes, time and a half) and put her on a final written warning that if she does it again she will be fired for insubordination. And if she is already a problem employee, who already has received warnings, check with a local attorney about firing her now (but still pay the OT).

Good luck.

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