“Can you just help with this for a minute?”
Not with an intent to steal wages, but with an innocent call for help.
In Arnold v. Marriott, a hotel employee alleges that during busy holiday seasons he and others were directed to help with conference and event setups while not clocked in — including during lunch. Supervisors allegedly observed pre-shift work and didn’t ensure it was recorded. On one occasion, when he asked whether he’d be paid for responding to work texts during lunch, he was told yes — but claims he wasn’t. He also alleges he raised concerns with management and nothing changed.
The court didn’t decide who’s right. It decided whether the allegations were enough to move forward. They were.
Why? Because the complaint didn’t just recite legal buzzwords. It alleged specific instances of pre-shift work, lunch-break interruptions, supervisory knowledge, and a failure to correct the problem. The unlawful withholding of wages doesn’t require evil intent. It only requires that an employer failed to pay an employee for time it knew or should have known employee was working. If a supervisor directs or observes off-the-clock work and the company doesn’t fix it, that’s more than enough to keep a wage claim alive.
There’s a lesson here for every employer with nonexempt staff.
Off-the-clock exposure rarely comes from a written policy or from an intent to “screw” the employees or steal from them. It comes from culture. From operational pressure. From managers who prioritize getting the job done over getting the time recorded.
Just because it’s not “on the clock” doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. That needs to be more than a slogan. It needs to be consistently enforced during every work shift.
Train managers that there are no “quick favors” before a shift or during lunch. No “just take care of this.” If they need the work done, the employee must be paid for their time.
Make timekeeping easy. Mobile punches. Clear reporting mechanisms for missed meals or extra time. Zero retaliation for reporting pay issues.
Audit high-risk departments — events, hospitality, production, anywhere deadlines rule the day.
And when an employee complains about unpaid time? Investigate it and, when necessary, fix it. Immediately. Pay it. Document it.
Off-the-clock claims are expensive not because of one missed punch — but because of what happens after management learns about it and does nothing.
That’s where liability multiplies. And where employers get burned.
