If you’re in President Donald Trump’s inner circle, your workday might not end even when you’re in bed after midnight.
In a recent New Yorker profile on Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Lutnick detailed Trump’s regular late-night calls to him around 1 a.m., when he is in bed.
Lutnick told the New Yorker writer that during these nightly bedtime calls, he and Trump discussed both work-related tariffs and “sporting events, people, who’d you have dinner with, what was this guy like, can you believe what this guy did, what’s the TV like, I saw this on TV, what’d you think of what this guy said on TV, what did you think about my press conference, how about this Truth?”
For Lutnick, these wide-ranging, late-night chitchats are not exclusive to him: “Trump has other people he calls late at night,” he told the New Yorker.
But it’s different when these 1 a.m. calls are coming from your boss.
Lutnick, who sees himself as a “dealmaker-in-chief” but gets described as an “errand boy” for Trump by a critic in the profile, has gone all-in on Trump’s worldview. But that doesn’t mean you should.
Unfortunately, Trump is not the only boss who likes to contact employees at all hours of the night ― this is an unfortunately all-too-common nightmare in the workplace.
“Some of these bosses, they call, they don’t even have a question. They just want to have an audience while they think out loud. It’s ridiculous,” said California-based labor and employment attorney Ryan Stygar, who consults with workers on these cases.
Lutnick is on his own, but for other workers in America, there are legal and work-savvy strategies you can use to fight back.
Why Employees Have The Right To Be Paid For After-Hours Work
Government workers like Lutnick are excluded from the protections of federal labor law on overtime pay, but for many jobs in America, Trump’s lack of work/life boundaries would raise red flags.
“A Cabinet member is almost certainly considered to be an employee who is exempt from overtime,” said Florida-based employment attorney Donna Ballman. “Unfortunately for exempt employees, that means employers can work them 24/7 without paying more than their base salary.“
But in a different industry, Trump’s behavior might financially cost him as a boss. That’s because the federal Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay workers covered under the law for all “hours worked” –– including time spent responding to a boss’ late-night, repeated calls. Generally, the FLSA covers many workers in retail, hospitality, event-planning and health care, to name a few common examples.
“If he were non-exempt, then [Lutnick] would be entitled to be paid for work-related calls after hours,” Ballman noted.
Under federal law, employers are typically excused from paying for work-related calls that last only a few minutes, but the law frowns upon long repeated calls to employees after their established workday. California goes one step further and considers even a few minutes of regular repeated overtime, like the time you spent opening and closing a Starbucks store, to be fair game for a California employer to pay for.
“Generally, for calls or work that take 4 to 10 minutes, and occurs at a somewhat regular basis, non-exempt California workers must be paid,” Stygar explained. California is also following in the steps of countries like Portugal, which has a “right to rest” law for employees — California is now proposing a similar law of its own.
If passed, “this would prohibit employers from contacting you with work-related issues after hours, except for ‘emergencies’ and brief scheduling conversations,” Stygar explained. “The proposed bill imposes a fine of at least $100 for the violations.“
But that bill has yet to become law. In the meantime, bosses may just fire you rather than pay you for the time you are owed, because most employees are “at will” in America, meaning they can be fired for any reason, as long as it’s not discriminatory.
Bosses have leverage over employees because they know you might be working here to make ends meet, “and if I fire you, you can’t pay rent anymore. So maybe you’re going to give me 20-30 minutes of pre-work every week, or you will take up my call,” Stygar said.
But there are other ways to fight back beyond seeking monetary compensation.
How To Push Back Against Bad Bosses Who Don’t Respect Work/Life Balance
If you see your boss’s name on your caller ID, you might feel like you have no choice but to pick up and “uh-huh” along to their demands.
But you don’t have to accept a boss’s constant encroachment on your free time. There are strategic ways to set boundaries. Here’s how.
Clarify what after-hours means to your boss.
Bad bosses don’t set expectations well, so you need to manage up and clarify what your work hours are in order to get peace of mind.
Once you have documented a pattern of late-night emails and texts, go to your boss and explain, “Listen, I know that you reach out to me after hours. I just want to be clear: Are these times where you need me to get back to you right away, or can these wait till the next day?” said Mary Abbajay, president of the leadership development consultancy Careerstone Group.
In some industries, like politics and law, late emergency calls may be the industry norm. “If you want a clear definition between your work life and your home life, you’ve got to choose the right job, the right industry, the right profession,” Abbajay said.
Learn if you are the only one being singled out.
Talk to other people on your team and find out if you are the only person your boss contacts after hours.
If you are being singled out, consider whether it’s because of your identity, like your race, age, sex, national origin or disability. These are protected statuses, and you could have a potential discrimination claim, Ballman said.
“If you are on FMLA [Family and Medical Leave Act], your boss is supposed to leave you alone on your time off. If you are being called during dinnertime when your boss knows you have toddlers, and childless employees are not being targeted, it could be sex discrimination,” Ballman listed as examples.
If your attempts to get compensated are going nowhere, seek legal remedies. “Document the hours. Submit for payment. If they say, ‘No,’ you can talk to a lawyer about your options,” Stygar said.
Join forces with co-workers.
If you’re not the only one your boss is texting and calling, talk to your co-workers about pushing back as a united front.
“If you talk to the right colleagues, you at least get some support, and you get some affirmation that you’re not the only one, or if you are the only one, what does that tell you?” Abbajay noted. Even people in the Trump administration might be doing this, Abbajay suggested: “I’m sure they’re all having conversations about, ‘How do you handle Trump? How often do you pick up the phone?’“
Complaining to co-workers about your no-good boss can even lead to lasting change in unionized workplaces.
“Better yet, form a union and make sure that the right to disconnect is clearly spelled out in your collective bargaining agreement,” Ballman advised employees going through this.
Bad bosses ultimately come in all kinds of flavors ― they harangue, they harass, and they just might call you in the middle of the night. Although these late-night calls might be the norm for Trump, it doesn’t have to be your workplace reality.
If these constant calls are “not serving you, personally, professionally, health-wise, then I really think it’s time to look at the devils that you don’t know,” Abbajay said. “Look at other organizations. Because while this is common, it’s not the norm.”