So, I hope this isn't too off topic for the sub, but you guys seem to know a lot about labor laws and employee empowerment so I thought I'd ask here.
I'm a landscape designer, basically all I do is draw on my iPad and create nice little illustrations that depict the species and arrangement, etc. to help close the deal on a landscaping job. I do a lot of work from home to try and meet deadlines. I am very new, and so the first week I really wasn't going to push it about getting every single hour, as I didn't wanna risk pissing my boss off and most of it was experimentation and playing around on the iPad, figuring out the process.
But now, I find I'm still doing a lot of work from home (about 5 hours most weeks). I got COVID a while back and worked from home, texted my boss about how to log my hours and told him how much I worked and he said “talk with me tomorrow”. I forgot to and have just been hesitant. Paycheck came and my home hours weren't logged. And today he has me working from home to finish a job before tomorrow. I texted him and asked him again, since I neglected to meet with him about it, once again he said “get with me tomorrow”.
I'm getting strong vibes that he is not down with it, since it requires trusting the employee to be honest about the hours. How should I prepare for this? I am not going to continue to work from home if he flat out refuses to ever pay me for it but I worry this could piss him off. He's a workaholic and a stern guy, although he is pleasant and likes me for the most part. I greatly improved their designs since I've been drawing for years. He is very pleased with my work and I've became the main designer in just a month of working there. I don't mind finishing something up here and there for 30 min or so, but if he is specifically asking me to do multiple hours of work, as a busy ass engineering student, that is a sacrifice and I expect to get paid.
How can I make this happen while avoiding any unpleasant situations? I want to approach this right, I'm a bit of a passive guy