Take it Easy On Employers

Just ran across an article claiming how employers rip off their employees.

Working For Free: 6 Ways Employers Get You To Work For Free (Legally)

I don't know about you, but I don't work for anyone for free unless they are family, a close friend, or someone needing a helping hand... Or maybe because I lost my mind completely... which is always possible.

Anyhow, here is what this author is saying, along with my annotations:

1. Unpaid Overtime Expectations - "Legal ways employers get away with this include misclassifying employees, excluding overtime hours, requiring workers to do additional work while not working on the clock, using round-down time clocks, and denying overtime pay based on the employee’s title."

Legal ways? As a quick reminder, excluding overtime, using unfair time clock rounding, working off the clock, and denying overtime to hourly workers who work over 40 hours, is not legal... Not even close. Most employers already know that.

2. Voluntary Training Programs - "Time spent on such activities outside of work hours essentially becomes free labor".

Learning is free labor? What if a company paid toward a college education? Or skills you could use to find another job? Employers offer training to improve the skills of their own workforce. I'm not seeing a problem here, and find the assertion generally unfair.

3. Misclassification Of Employees - "Employers sometimes misclassify employees as independent contractors to bypass certain pay regulations like overtime pay, minimum wage".

I can't say this does not happen, as classification can be ambiguous. Keep in mind most employers understand if they misclassify, they risk hot water with the IRS. Which everyone knows is not good.

4. Required Prep Or Cleanup Time - "This time often goes unpaid because employers claim it’s part of the job and not actual work hours."

Not actual work hours? Employers are required to pay hourly workers for every minute on the clock, and prep/cleanup time is on the clock. Employers already know this very well, but if they don't, maybe talk to an attorney.

5. Optional After-Hours Events - "Events might be off the clock but come with heavy peer pressure to attend".

Free food is work? Company culture sometimes tries to unite employees after hours, but employers already know it should never be required. If they do either make a claim, or find a better fit somewhere else.

6. Expectation Of On-Call Availability - "Many employees, especially in tech or healthcare, are expected to remain on-call without compensation."

Without compensation? I'm no attorney, so I searched for one... According to the Law Offices of Frank S Clowney III... "An on-call employee is legally entitled to pay if they are engaged to work and their time is subject to their employer’s control. An employer is not required to pay an employee their standard rate for on-call compensation, but the pay can’t be less than the minimum wage."

Conclusion

Most employers are hard working folks trying to keep you (and themselves) employed. Does that mean all are perfect, no.

But it is far more helpful to label them as people who offer jobs, not as people taking unfair advantage of their employees. It's simple, if you think something ain't right, ditch the complaints and do something positive about it.

Take it easy on employers, they keep you employed and help run the economy.