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I'm currently a paid intern for a medium-sized software company in the US and have been working there previously during my time off college for the past few years. Up to this point I've been limited to working 40 hours per week (though the actual amount is flexible) and I would typically work 9:00-5:00 weekdays. Recently, my boss offered me the option of working over the weekend as well and any hours above 40 I would be allowed to record to be added on past the day I leave to return to college (to compensate me).

This sounds somewhat legally sketchy to me, though I don't believe my boss is intentionally attempting to take advantage of me. The company is currently in a state of crunch-time and I get the impression that this is likely an attempt to aid in meeting the approaching deadlines. Regardless, I'd rather not work on the weekend anyways.

So: is this legal?

Furthermore, how should I respond?

Forgive any ambiguity, I'd prefer to remain anonymous as possible.

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  • First you should ask yourself if you are interested in the offer in the first place. Does it benefit you if you can write attendance of additional days to your college? Could there be difficulties explaining the situation later? (e.g. "It says here you worked through August, but the company says your last day was in the beginning of July."). Do you even want to work more than 40 hours a week? – Brandin Jun 19 '16 at 13:42
  • "Legal" according to the employment laws of Belgium, Cameroon or Ecuador? Anyway, legal question usually fit better on law.stackexchange.com – Philipp Jun 19 '16 at 20:09
  • @Philipp Country request is right, just because this question contains the word "legal" it's not off topic. Any HR manager should know the answer to this for their country. meta.workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/1856/… – Myles Jun 21 '16 at 17:48
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Furthermore, how should I respond?

Decline politely, you don't want to work on the weekends so just let the boss know you have other stuff to do. It's an offer, offers get turned down all the time.

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  • Thanks, that's good to know. I'll probably do just that. – Somebody Jun 19 '16 at 19:39
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If your employer has a comp time benefit they could do this. You'd need to find out if your employer offers it.

If your company is large enough to have one, you might be able to confirm if a policy exists by poking around on the HR section of your intranet site.

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  • It sounds more like they're trying to avoid paying overtime by falsely recording when the work was done. – alroc Jun 19 '16 at 11:05

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