I’ve been working at my job since July. In addition to seeing clients throughout the day, this job requires lots of documentation/paperwork which I was told could be completed and billed to the company after hours. No real guidelines/rules/limits provided about how much extra time we could spend on paperwork. It is an hourly position. I stay after sometimes but rarely more than 15-30 minutes. 

One of the contracts I provide services for 1x per week can be completed in 1.25-2 hours. I get there at 8am, see my clients, then drive approx 15 minutes to my next site. At my next site I do paperwork for approx an hour-an hour and a half (it varies depending on how busy the morning was) then take an hour lunch break with the rest of the employees. After that I see clients until 5pm.

I’ve been thankful for the extra hour I get to catch up on paperwork and use it for exactly that. However, recently my boss has been going over the numbers and figuring out profits with different contracts. He never said anything directly to me. But recently two of my coworkers on two separate occasions asked why I was at work so “early” on this day. I told them I was finished with my first site and doing paperwork, like I have been since July. 

Now I’m paranoid. Should I have gotten off the clock when I completed my first site then returned after lunch? Should I have asked my boss what I’m supposed to be doing during this extra hour/hour and a half and not assumed I’d get paid during it? I realized that other employees don’t get this time to complete paperwork as their morning contracts are longer. Am I stealing time? If this is a problem, is it on my boss for not explaining my schedule to me from the beginning? At this job, I have seen countless “mistakes” by employees that were really just due to my boss assuming people know the “rules” intuitively so I’m afraid I will be punished for this. 

TL:DR I get paid an extra hour/hour and a half each week during a gap in my schedule that my coworkers do not get (that I use to complete paperwork-they either complete their paperwork after hours or during client cancellations). We are allowed to bill for paperwork after hours with no real guidelines/limits about how much time we can spend on it. No one said anything about this until recently two coworkers asked why I’m “early” since I don’t see clients until after lunch. AITA? 