Can an employee be made to work for free in order to promote a business?
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Can an employee be made to work for free in order to promote a business?
I was hired as a part-time employee working 2 days a week to sell art in a gallery. I receive $12.00 per hour and a 3% commission on everything I sell. After I was hired and established, my employer told me I had to do outside sales activities totaling 5-7 hours a week without pay and using my own vehicle. Is that allowed in to require me to work for free to promote her gallery?
Asked on June 17, 2015 under Employment Labor Law, Arizona
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
No, it is not legal to make an employee work for free: employees must be paid for all work they do, and in particular, employees paid in whole or in part on an hourly basis must be paid for all hours worked. That is the basic labor law; see, for example the Fair Labor Standards Act. At the end of this answer, I have included a link to an illustrative government (Dept. of Labor) webpage.
An employee can, however, be required to use his/her own vehicle, without any compensation for its use: that can be a term or condition of employemnt.
Here is is the DOL webpage: http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/hoursworked/
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