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Many people call us to ask about whether they can get paid when their employers make them work without punching the clock. Â Their main concern is usually that they did not keep records of their off-the-clock hours so they think they can’t “prove” their work. Â But the law governing wages and hours (the Fair Labor Standards Act), does not require an employee to keep detailed records; rather, the employer is mandated to keep records of hours worked. Â Since off-the-clock hours are not maintained by the employer as required by the law, then the employee can just testify as to the approximate amount of hours he worked and explain a few tasks that he did while working off-the-clock. Â Unless the employer can specifically disprove the employee’s testimony (which is difficult), then the court will award the employee the unpaid overtime even though the hours are only an estimate. Â And remember, your employer can not give you “comp time” off instead of overtime at time-and-a-half your hourly pay. Â “Comp time” is forbidden by the law. Â Call one of our unpaid overtime lawyers if you have been forced to work off-the-clock.