That means that employees who may be depending on working 26 hours a week and whose schedule is changed to cancel a shift, can still depend on “equivalent” wages. Same with telling someone to stay until you can get there- That is just a safety issue- and again, you aren't asking them to stay an entire extra shift. If this happened to you, i'd get Open Door the situation with your Store Manager immediately, and if it isn't resolved i'd get Ethics or your Market Manager involved. Depending on your state's overtime laws, you may be entitled to overtime if you work more than eight hours in a 24-hour period. As an employer, you try your best to set an optimal work schedule for your employees and to give them notice in advance if it changes. Making someone stay through breakfast is totally different than telling them they have to stay through a whole shift. You are correct that they must pay you every cent for that time. One way this is done for employees-at-will is to have a disclaimer in the employee handbook that clearly states changes can be made by the employer as necessary and there is no contract of employment or employment conditions, express or implied. The reason is that the majority of employment relationships are what is known as "at will", meaning that an employer can hire/fire someone for any reason or no reason whatsoever, as well has increase/decrease hours and generally impose requirements as they deem fit. Employers can also terminate an employee for refusal to work the mandated overtime. The answer is yes, an employer can force employees to work mandatory overtime. New York. Companies have wide discretion or latitude to make employees work longer than their normally scheduled shifts. Hello, An employer is allowed to require an employee to work beyond his scheduled shift. Because this was less than half of your scheduled shift, you are owed reporting time pay. You just may lose your job. It sounds like you are being fair in the situations you describe. If they insist you stay, then you can leave if you wish. I know when I used to be a cashier, there were several times that I got stuck on a register for an hour after my shift was over because we were too busy for me to leave. Management can NEVER force any hourly associate to stay past their scheduled shift. The number of hours in a workweek can exceed 40, but healthcare facilities aren’t allowed to force employees to take a longer shift. Under the employment at will doctrine, and employer may alter the terms of employment, including work hours at any time. For example, if you work a 2 a.m.-10:30 a.m. shift, and you are scheduled to return at 11 p.m. that same evening, your hour between 11 p.m. and midnight might be counted as overtime. The idea behind reporting time pay is that employers should give sufficient notice to employees if work isn’t available, so that they can … The main limitation on this power is that working past shift end is still "work"--that is, if the employee is an hourly employee, he or she *must* be paid for the off-shift work at their normal rate. In New York, mandatory overtime is illegal. Yes, you can be made to stay over and work past your scheduled shift. It depends on whether you are in a "right to work" state or have any union representation. However, things don’t always go as planned. They can leave you unrelieved, but you could always quit. As a result, employers are free to change conditions of employment as they see fit. Your employer must pay you for half of your scheduled shift, which is four hours. They cannot make you by force or anything but they can fire you or replace you for leaving. 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