California Off-the-Clock Work Guide
Clear, practical information about your rights under California wage and hour laws. Explore our guides to understand the rules-and what to do if they are violated.
Written and legally reviewed by:
Gabriel Sandoval, Attorney at Law
GS LAW, APC
Last reviewed: August 14, 2026
Disclaimer: These guides are provided for general informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- What Is Off-the-Clock Work?
- What Counts as Hours Worked?
- Work Before and After a Shift
- Calls, Texts, Emails and Remote Work
- Meetings, Training and Work During Breaks
- Waiting Time, Security Checks and Travel
- Timekeeping Problems and Rounding
- Employer Knowledge and Unauthorized Work
- Unpaid Wages, Overtime and Potential Recovery
- Evidence That Can Help
- Frequently Asked Questions
RELATED GUIDES
- Employment Law Guides
- California Meal & Rest Break Guide
- California Minimum Wage and Payday Guide
- California Overtime Guide
- California Unpaid Wages, Penalties & Damages Guide
- California Exempt Employee Misclassification Guide
- California Independent Contractor Misclassification Guide
- California Off-the-Clock Guide
Off-the-clock work occurs when an employee performs job-related tasks without that time being recorded or included in the employee’s pay. The work may happen before clocking in, after clocking out, during an unpaid meal period, at home, or at another time outside the employee’s scheduled shift.
Recorded Shift
The time your employer records as your official start and end time.
Work Actually Performed
The real time you spent working, including time before, after, or outside your scheduled shift.
Why the Difference Matters
An employee’s timecard does not always show the complete workday. For example, an employee may clock out at 5:00 p.m. but continue cleaning, completing paperwork, closing a register, or responding to a supervisor.
When the employer requires, permits, or knowingly allows that work to occur, the time may have to be recorded and paid. Off-the-clock time must also be included when determining whether the employee worked overtime.
Off-the-clock work most commonly affects nonexempt employees. A salaried employee may also have a claim if the employee is legally nonexempt.
Did You Know?
Regularly occurring work does not become free merely because it takes only a few minutes. Small amounts of unpaid time can become significant when they occur repeatedly.
California defines “hours worked” broadly. Compensable time generally includes time during which an employee is subject to the employer’s control and time the employee is suffered or permitted to work. These are separate standards, and either may establish that the employee must be paid.
Subject to Employer Control
An employee may be working when the employer directs, restricts, or controls when, where, or how the employee spends the time.
Relevant questions may include:
- Was the employee required to remain at a particular location?
- Was the employee required to follow the employer’s instructions?
- Could the employee use the time effectively for personal purposes?
- Could the employee face discipline for refusing to comply?
An employee does not necessarily have to be actively performing a task during every moment of employer-controlled time for the time to be compensable.
Suffered or Permitted to Work
Work may also be compensable when the employer knows or should know that the employee is working and allows the work to continue—even if the employer did not expressly order it.
This may include situations where a supervisor observes employees working after clocking out, regularly sends assignments after hours, or knows that employees cannot complete their assigned duties within the recorded schedule.
The employer’s benefit from the work may be relevant, but the complete circumstances must be considered. Section 8 discusses employer knowledge and unauthorized work in greater detail.
Did You Know?
The employee does not always need to prove that a supervisor directly ordered the work. Work the employer knew or should have known about may also qualify as hours worked.
Off-the-clock violations frequently occur immediately before an employee clocks in or after the employee clocks out. The fact that a task occurs outside the scheduled shift does not automatically make the time unpaid. The important question is whether the employer required, controlled, or permitted the employee to perform the task.
Setup
Potentially compensable pre-shift activities may include:
Preparing tools or equipment
- Setting up a workstation
- Starting and logging into required computer systems
- Reviewing work instructions
- Opening a store or work area
- Preparing a cash register
- Putting on required protective equipment
Closing Tasks
Potentially compensable post-shift activities may include:
- Cleaning or organizing the work area
- Storing tools or equipment
- Completing reports or paperwork
- Closing or counting a cash register
- Transmitting sales or production information
- Locking doors or activating alarms
- Finishing an assignment requested by a supervisor
Not Every Pre-Shift or Post-Shift Activity Is Work
Ordinary commuting, waiting for a personal ride, socializing with coworkers, and other purely personal activities are not generally compensable merely because they occur near the workplace.
The analysis changes when the employer directs, controls, requires, or knowingly permits the activity. Whether a particular task must be paid depends on what the employee was doing and the level of employer control or knowledge.
Did You Know?
An employer must generally maintain accurate records of when an employee begins and ends each work period. A scheduled shift or time punch does not excuse the employer from paying for additional work it required or permitted.
After-Hours Messages
Time spent responding to work-related calls, texts, or emails before or after a scheduled shift may count as hours worked including:
- Answering a supervisor’s questions
- Responding to customers or coworkers
- Reviewing instructions and completing a requested task
Work Completed From Home
Remote work may include preparing reports, finishing paperwork, entering information, uploading files, or logging into an employer’s system.
The employee’s location, and who owns the device, does not determine whether the time is compensable.
Calls or Meetings on Days Off
Did You Know?
Using a personal phone or home computer does not automatically make work time unpaid.
Required meetings, job-related training, and work performed during meal or rest periods may count as paid working time—even when they occur outside the employee’s normal schedule.
Mandatory Meetings
Required Training
Working During a Meal Period
Interrupted Rest Breaks
Did You Know?
Scheduling a required meeting before or after a shift does not make the meeting unpaid.
Waiting Time
Waiting time may be compensable when an employee must remain at a particular location, stay ready to work, or follow employer restrictions. Examples may include waiting for:
- A supervisor to open or close the workplace
- Equipment, assignments, or transportation
- Permission to leave
- Required work procedures to be completed
Security Checks
Time spent waiting for and completing an employer-required security check may be compensable when employees cannot leave until the procedure is finished.
This may include required bag searches, exit inspections, or other employer-controlled screening procedures.
Employer-Required Travel
Compensable travel may include:
Travel between worksites during the workday
Employer-required errands or deliveries
Travel after reporting to a designated location
Compulsory transportation provided by the employer
Ordinary Commuting
Normal travel from home to the first work location, and from the final work location back home, is generally not paid working time.
Different rules may apply when the employer places significant restrictions on the travel or requires employees to report somewhere before traveling to the worksite.
Did You Know?
The California Supreme Court has ruled that employees must be paid for time spent waiting for and undergoing certain employer-required exit searches.
California employers must maintain accurate records of when nonexempt employees begin and end each work period, take meal periods, and complete their total daily hours. Employees must be paid based on the time actually worked—not merely the hours appearing on a schedule.
Accurate Time Records
The employer is responsible for maintaining accurate records of the employee’s actual working time. These records should reflect the hours the employee worked—not simply the hours the employee was scheduled to work.
Accurate records generally should include:
- Beginning and ending times
- Meal-period punches
- Total daily hours worked
- Applicable hourly and overtime rates
- Total hours shown on wage statements
Time records should also match the employer’s payroll records. Employees should not be instructed to leave work unrecorded, approve inaccurate timecards, or accept changes that remove time they actually worked.
Common Timekeeping Problems
Timekeeping violations may occur when an employer’s records do not reflect the employee’s actual working time.
Common problems include:
- Automatically deducting meal periods that were not taken
- Changing or deleting time punches
- Using scheduled hours instead of actual hours
- Preventing employees from clocking in early or clocking out late
- Requiring employees to work after clocking out
- Asking employees to approve inaccurate time records
- Issuing wage statements that do not match the employee’s hours
Time Rounding
Time rounding occurs when an employer changes an employee’s actual clock-in or clock-out time to a predetermined increment, such as the nearest five, ten, or fifteen minutes.
For example, an employee who clocks in at 7:53 a.m. may be recorded as starting at 8:00 a.m. Repeated rounding can add up to unpaid regular wages, minimum-wage violations, or unpaid overtime.
A rounding policy may violate California law when it favors the employer or regularly causes employees to lose paid time. California does not permit employers to round meal-period punches.
Employees should compare their original clock punches with their paid hours. Differences between those records may reveal that working time was rounded down, changed, or omitted.
Did You Know?
When an employer fails to maintain accurate time records, an employee’s testimony and reasonable estimates may be used to establish the hours worked. After the employee presents evidence supporting a reasonable estimate of unpaid work, the burden may shift to the employer to produce accurate records or challenge that estimate.
An employer must pay for work it knew, or reasonably should have known, was being performed.
Requiring advance authorization does not eliminate the obligation to pay for actual work.
Employer Knew
An employer has actual knowledge when a supervisor directs the work, observes it being performed, receives after-hours messages, or reviews the completed work.
Employer Should Have Known
An employer may be responsible when schedules, workloads, time records, emails, or repeated working patterns should have revealed that off-the-clock work was occurring.
Off-the-clock work can result in more than unpaid hourly wages. The potential recovery depends on the employee’s total hours, rate of pay, employment status, and the employer’s conduct.
Unpaid Regular Wages
Employees may recover wages for all compensable time worked but not paid. This can include short tasks performed before or after a shift, remotely, or during an unpaid meal period.
Certain minimum-wage violations may also support liquidated damages and interest.
Overtime
Unrecorded time must be added to the employee’s recorded hours when calculating overtime.
Potential recovery may include:
- Time-and-a-half for qualifying overtime hours
- Double-time wages when applicable
- Additional overtime created by previously unrecorded work
Possible Additional Recovery
Depending on the circumstances, an employee may also be entitled to:
- Meal- or rest-period premium pay
- Waiting-time penalties of up to 30 days of wages
- Damages for inaccurate wage statements
- Interest on unpaid wages
Attorney’s fees and costs when authorized by law
Did You Know?
Evidence does not have to come from the employer. Personal records, testimony, and reasonable estimates may help prove unpaid work when the employer’s records are incomplete.
Time Records
Helpful records may include timecards, punch reports, pay stubs, payroll records, and documents showing changes made to recorded time.
Messages
Texts, emails, workplace chats, and call logs may show that work was assigned, discussed, or completed outside recorded hours.
Schedules and Work Product
Posted schedules, schedule changes, reports, task logs, login history, and document timestamps may help establish when work was performed.
Witnesses and Personal Notes
Coworkers, supervisors, customers, calendars, journals, and personal estimates of hours may help confirm an employee’s account.
Did You Know?
Evidence does not have to come from the employer. Personal records, testimony, and reasonable estimates may help prove unpaid work when the employer’s records are incomplete.
California employees frequently have practical questions about whether they are entitled to breaks, whether they can waive or combine them, and what happens when the employer’s records do not reflect what actually occurred. The answers below describe the general rules, but exemptions and industry-specific requirements may affect an individual case.