|- 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.
Waiting for Work
Place of Work
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 employees 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.