they need to potty after those hours? I would think that you would need to attend to his/her immediate needs such as going potty after several hours cooped in a crate or other area. How do you handle this?
Either you have gotten some poor advice or there was a misunderstanding. If you are crate training your dog and return home from work then immediately let him outside whether he is whining or not. The time to ignore him is when he whines at night after being properly toileted and its time to sleep.