How do I know if I should report overtime?

This is what I found:

This section says what an employer can't require you to do:

"(1) Except as hereinafter provided, an employee shall not be required under his contract of service to work --

(a) more than five consecutive hours without a period of leisure of not less than thirty minutes duration;

(b) more than eight hours in one day;

(c) in excess of a spread over period of ten hours in one day;

(d) more than forty-eight hours in one week:

Provided that --

(i) for the purpose of subsection (1) (a), any break of less than thirty minutes in the five consecutive hours shall not break the continuity of that five consecutive hours;

(ii) an employee who is engaged in work which must be carried on continuously and which requires his continual attendance may be required to work for eight consecutive hours inclusive of a period or periods of not less than forty-five minutes in the aggregate during which he shall have the opportunity to have a meal; and

(iii) where, by agreement under the contract of service between the employee and the employer, the number of hours of work on one or more days of the week is less than eight, the limit of eight hours may be exceeded on the remaining days of the week, but so that no employee shall be required to work for more than nine hours in one day or forty-eight hours in one week."

These are situations where your employer is allowed to require you to work beyond 40 hours or the other amounts of time mentioned in section 1 (I don't think any of these apply in your case though).

(2) An employee may be required by his employer to exceed the limit of hours prescribed in subsection (1) and to work on a rest day, in the case of--

(a) accident, actual or threatened, in or with respect to his place of work;

(b) work, the performance of which is essential to the life of the community;

(c) work essential for the defence or security of Malaysia;

(d) urgent work to be done to machinery or plant;

(e) an interruption of work which it was impossible to foresee; or

(f) work to be performed by employees in any industrial undertaking essential to the economy of Malaysia or any essential service as defined in the Industrial Relations Act 1967:

This is the part about overtime pay:

(3)

(a) For any overtime work carried out in excess of the normal hours of work, the employee shall be paid at a rate not less than one and half times his hourly rate of pay irrespective of the basis on which his rate of pay is fixed.

(b) In this section "overtime" means the number of hours of work carried out in excess of the normal hours of work per day:

Provided that if any work is carried out after the spread over period of ten hours, the whole period beginning from the time that the said spread over period ends up to the time that the employee ceases work for the day shall be deemed to be overtime.

(c) For the purposes of this section, section 60, section 60D (3) (a) and section 60I, "normal hours of work" means the number of hours of work as agreed between an employer and an employee in the contract of service to be the usual hours of work per day and such hours of work shall not exceed the limits of hours prescribed in subsection (1).

All of this is from "MALAYSIA EMPLOYMENT ACT 1955" which is at

this link http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/WEBTEXT/48055/6...

What I quoted above can be found in the section "60A. Hours of work." which can be reached by a hyperlink within the document at the link I provided above.

Overtime rate can have different meanings in different countries and jurisdictions. In some countries there is no concept of a standard working week, and no bonus pay for exceeding a set number of hours within that week. In other countries, bonus pay is mandated for certain classes of workers when a set number of hours is exceeded.

Keith has the answer for the U.S. Some still get around it by a variety of means.

. Your going to have to look up , your countries (and company) rules to see if you should

Sadly in today's world still many put in hours they are not paid for--even in countries that have strict laws that are suppose to protect them.

I hope you find something better

In United States that is considered over time. I think your manager is being...... a little unreasonable there.

Explain to your boss that filing requires more time on your part & tactfully let him or her know that those 30 minutes to 40 minutes is still time spent "working" on your part.

Filing may be a small part but no matter how small it is still necessary 2 the whole. Imagine if you didn't spend time filing the previous day the next morning coming to work all the files & folders are scattered all over the place, how frustrated your boss (or you) would be.

(at the end of a work day, the place need to be cleaned, tables wept & desk straighted out; those are "minor areas" but STILL necessary)

so how is filing to be considered any less important? Your boss would be too stingy to withheld money from you. Did not Jesus say not to withhold good from others when it's deserving? Also take this matter to prayer to God. Your boss may not change overnight & reward you for the little labour (aka filing), but nonetheless try to find joy contributing to the company's overall health, stability & image. Your job matters, everyone in the company matters (even the janitor who cleans the bathroom!!), your boss should not just consider making $$$$.

But understand that Jehovah God notices even the smallest of contribution & accept it: remember the poor widow? That poor woman had absolutely nothing, she had nothing & just lost everything & just wanted to give God the tiny little coins she had.....she just want God to appreciate her "work" no matter how small or useless others may think. & Jehovah recorded her in the bible as the finest example of generosity, & heart felt contribution. Nothing is too small to be wasted or goes unnoticed before God.

(anyways, scriptural examples aside, back to the main story)

The filing part is absolutely crucial to functioning of the greater part of the company's project, your boss should consider paying you for the labour contributed. It's like this: Cleaning the desk may not be as important as doing sales/management/etc but the desks are always messy at the end of each day. Should your bossy neglect even this crucial compotent, the next morning when everyone comes to work the desk is as messy as a crow's nest. The time spent cleaning desk is still part of the work (because it contributes to the entire company's overall image & fuinction) so the time spend cleaning desk must be & should be compensated.

Hope this makes sense.

PS: I just went to Malaysia last year, Johor Bahru. Had the best satay & coconut ever. ;-D

(while you may stress out over life, don't forget to take a break too. Always remember spiritual things is first place, never let work crowd out the most important thing: Spirituality)

You work, you get paid,end of story,slavery is illegal.