<prompt> Human: Hey guys, Im 26, living in California, working as a physical therapist. My boss the head PT forces me and the other therapists to clock out when the office gets slow. For example: occasionally Ill get 2 patients canceling back to back , this leaves me with about 45 minutes of free time. During times like that, I usually just stay at my desk and work on my notes and prep for new patients coming in. But lately, my boss has been forcing us to clock out when this happens. Shell make us clock out at 11:30 lets say and clock back in when the next patient shows up at like 11:50. Its getting ridiculous to the point where I had to clock out and back in 3 times this past Monday, losing a total of 1 hour of pay. Is this legal? Any advice would be appreciated!Assistant: If youre doing work while clocked out patient notes, etc, definitely illegal; its an FLSA violation.If you were free to leave the office, then come back and clock in when its time for the next patient, its not illegal, but super shady and inconvenient. Think about looking for another job in that case.Human: Its tricky because were not being forced to work while clocked out. But our patient notes have to be done by the end of the work day before we can go home. I usually work on them periodically when I have a few minutes of free time throughout the work day. By forcing us to clock out when it gets slow, I lose those free moments to do notes. So for my own sake I have to do notes while clocked out so I dont end up staying an hour past closing where we dont get paid Its really fucked up.  <response>: By forcing us to clock out when it gets slow, I lose those free moments to do notes. So for my own sake I have to do notes while clocked out so I dont end up staying an hour past closing where we dont get paid Either you get paid during slow times to do patient notes or you get paid after closing time to do patient notes. If your employer is not satisfied with that, she can fire you but she cant force you to do unpaid work. Maybe you can just clock in while working on notes? 