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Just curious if it's justified for a company to have me fill out all new hire forms (including job specific forms) without compensation and on my own time. I'm used to filling these forms out during work hours when I begin a new job and was under the impression that this does count as "work".
EDIT: Obviously this is not the biggest deal and I am not going to go in ranting and raving about it, I am only curious if this is actually legal or not.
The bigger question is if it's worth having a fight with your new employer over it. I've had situations where it's been done both on or off the clock. Whether you are prepared to wear the $5 is a decision you will have to make.
If it were me, I'd let it go and just get on with my new role. It's a once-off and part of the onboarding process, so making a fuss about it probably isn't useful :)
You would probably be pleasantly surprised to know that a lot of decent companies will offer you lunch on your first day, or some other means to compensate and welcome you. If not your employer, then one or multiple of your coworkers. Other means of compensation will certainly present themselves.
As for entitlement to compensation, the answer to your question is no unless you have it in your job offer that they will compensate you for any fees that you have to incur in order to finalize your employment. I've had that before, in the form of transportation vouchers. Any form of compensation will certainly be a nice gesture.
As for whether or not it counts as work, the answer to your question is maybe - under §785.11 of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as the FLSA counts anything "suffered or permitted" to work as payable, as long as it reaches certain criteria. If they made it clear that you can do it when you get there, then the answer is no, as a criterion is that it must be mandatory and outside of work hours. Otherwise, then maybe. But I'd advise against it as it's minimal and rocks the boat.
On another note, in the future, might I suggest free services, or at least free trials of services, that offer signatures? I use SmallPDF and PDFEscape, which allow you to insert text and draw signatures. If a company requires a fax then I find a fax service online where I upload the document and it's faxed for me. I've found free services, but the last service I used was a dollar. If the forms are not sent to me digitally, then I simply go get a copy of those forms online since the IRS offers them anyway.
justified for a company to have me fill out all new hire forms without compensation and on my own time
Sure, if you do it.
Unsure if they wanted you to do it on your own time or not. If it was a hassle for me I'd just take the forms in on my first day and use their resources.
