Required Staff Meeting or Company Event Outside Work Hours? When Attendance Counts as Paid Time

The Four Tests for Unpaid Attendance

Under 29 CFR 785.27, time spent at a meeting, lecture or training program does not count as work time only if all four of these are true. The DOL Fact Sheet #22 on hours worked summarizes the same rule.

• It is outside regular working hours

  A meeting held during your scheduled shift is paid. Time before or after the shift is the issue.

• Attendance is truly voluntary

  You must be free to skip it with no penalty. A meeting is not voluntary if it is required, or if you are led to believe that missing it would hurt your job, hours or standing.

• It is not job related

  If the session is directly related to your work, such as a sales meeting, a safety briefing or product training, the time is generally paid. Training that is separate from your job and that you choose to take on your own is treated differently.

• You do no productive work during it

  If you take orders, cover the front counter or restock while you sit in the meeting, the time is work time.

Required Means Paid

The rule on involuntary attendance is blunt: attendance is not voluntary if the employer requires it, or if the employee is given reason to think that not attending would affect working conditions or employment. A message such as "everyone is expected there" or a manager who notes who was missing can be enough. The same goes for trainings the employer directs you to attend, which 29 CFR 785.29 treats as work time when they relate to your job.

How Unpaid Meetings Turn Into Overtime

A 30 minute briefing before each of five shifts adds up to two and a half hours a week. If you already work 40 hours, those hours are overtime, and the employer owes the premium rate, not straight time. Hours at a second location of the same employer also count, as explained in our post on working at two locations. An employer cannot avoid pay by saying the overtime was not approved, see unauthorized overtime.

Company Events and Social Gatherings

A holiday party or picnic that you are free to skip, with no work duties and no pressure, is usually not paid time. If you must attend, must staff a table, serve guests or work the event, or are told it counts toward your standing, the time may be hours worked. Travel to a required event is covered in our guide on unpaid training, travel and standby time.

Salaried Workers

An employee who truly meets an overtime exemption is generally paid the same salary however many meetings they attend. A salaried worker who does not meet the duties and salary tests is still owed overtime for hours over 40, and extra meeting time counts toward those hours.

What To Do Now

Keep every meeting notice, calendar invite, group message and sign-in sheet. Write down the date, start and end time, who required you to attend and whether you were told it was optional. Compare your pay stubs with those hours. For work done off the clock more generally, see our guide to off-the-clock work. If your employer has no records of the time, read our post on missing time records. You can raise unpaid meeting time with the Wage and Hour Division complaint page, and how to recover unpaid wages explains the next steps. Retaliation for raising the issue is prohibited, and deadlines apply.

Free Case Review

If you were required to attend meetings, trainings or events without pay, our team can review your records at no cost, if you are eligible.