Care home employee gets to work an hour early, protests when management tells him to clock in instead of napping: 'I'm still tired'

Ally Perry • Writer and Editor

Jun 20, 2026 8:30 AM EDT

Is there any scenario where it's OK to sleep at work?

In any workplace, we all have to adhere to certain standards of professionalism. Some of these are sensible and reasonable, and others are pretty dumb, but unless they are directly infringing on our workers' rights, part of having a job is dealing with these kinds of rules.

One obvious example of this is that there are certain behaviors that we should probably keep at home. There are plenty of white-collar workers who spend a lot of time on their work computers doing things that are more recreational than professional, but you can see why that is probably going to be frowned on by management. Most office-type jobs that aren't WFH are not going to be happy if you rock up in a pair of old sweatpants. Also, while we all need our sleep to function, no boss wants to stumble upon an employee who is dozing on or off the clock.

There is no denying that there are times during many workdays when a quick nap can be tempting. However, the middle of a workplace is, generally speaking, not an appropriate place for that. Not unless you have your own private office, anyway.

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An employee who had been working for several years in a care home as a floor technician found himself in a predicament when it came to getting to work. He had to carpool with his mom, which meant arriving at his workplace at least an hour before he was due to clock in.
He saw this extra hour as an opportunity to take a nap in a room where he wasn't likely to be disturbed. He didn't see the problem with it, but after a few months, the department head told him he should be clocking in instead of sleeping. He wasn't happy with this solution.
My boss said I can't come early and sleep at my work place until it's time to clock in

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