Is it legal for an employer to hold meetings but not pay their employees for attending them?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
Is it legal for an employer to hold meetings but not pay their employees for attending them?
Asked on November 4, 2010 under Employment Labor Law, Arizona
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
Are you an exempt or non-exempt employee? If you are exempt employee, there is no upper limit on how many hours you could be asked to work - including time for mandatory meetings. Basically, exempt employees are: Management (ie you supervise other people and have have considerable discretion in your work); Professionals (your job requires advanced or technical training - engineers, accountants, lawyers, etc); Administrators (if you they exercise considerable discretion in your position).
If not, then you are a non-exempt employee and work time is paid time. If you are being ordered to go to the meetings (i.e. they not voluntarily), this it is considered to be compensable work time. Your employer has to pay you for it.
Note: If it puts you into overtime, then it has to be paid (as overtime pay).
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.