Late timecard no pay policy
dchr9203
431 Posts
Do any of you practice a no time card no pay until next payroll period policy? In other words, do you have a policy that specifically states payroll for hours worked is based on timesheets submitted by a certain time/day and additions/corrections/changes received after the specified date will be processed in the following payroll cycle. I know the law requires that we pay for hours worked within the timeframe on the designated pay period, but I'm not sure if there are any "gray" areas that allow an employer to hold the employee accountable for accurate and timely time cards/sheets (outside of the standard discipline policies), and was just wondering what your practices were.
Comments
I'm editing. It sounded a little terse and I didn't mean it that way. I have great respect for Don D. But you'll find many others on the forum with years of experience and sound advice.
x:D
Rest assured though, I am not going to lose any sleep over it either way it was intended.
YIKES, no harm intended, truly....Go with the lighthearted plan, that was how it was intended to be taken-
A disciplinary would also be issued for failure to submit a proper time card, necessitating an extra burden on payroll.
This works very well for us, of course HR still catches a few time cards each week that are not correct so we contact the Supervisor and let them get to the bottom of the error and they correct same before we transmit payroll. It helps that we process time cards first thing every Monday and we do not transmit until Wednesday morning. This most always gives us plenty of time to get all errors corrected in time so that everyone is paid in full and on time.
Happy Time Cards to you....
Dutch2
Sam
The issue of the unknown is different. If they claim to have worked odd or additional hours and the supervisor refutes it and you have no assurance that they did work the hours, you do not have to pay for the hours in the absence of some corroboration.
If they were to produce a log of hours or some other backup and the supervisor were to say, "Hey, I'm not really sure," you'd be on the hook to pay them. Any disputed hours can be held over to the subsequent pay period while you investigate. And deletions, corrections, additions submitted after a drop-dead time can be paid the next cycle.
This is just my opinion based on my particular experiences and understanding of the law, of course. And, subject to a variety of employer-unfriendly laws in various states. I'm certainly no lawyer.
Now, from your post, I sense that you have a supervisor problem verses an ee time card problem. You should get out of chaseing down ever "Tom, Dick, and Harry" to find out if they worked or even clocked. Your supervisors or Department managers should be collecting, calculating, and approving all time cards or time sheet entries for payment. We in HR are the record keeper of the time cards/time sheets, we are not the "time clock police", we review the time card calculations after the fact for accurate calculations and we research issues and concerns, but if someone who normally gets a pay check for 40 hours or 42 hours a week we will pay that or make contact with the supervisor/manager for a clarification. Without clarification we pay and correct later.
Pork
>clear, you must pay at least the standard work
>week identified by your company and the hours
>assumed as being 40 hours. If after
>investigated and approved by your supervisor
>then adjust up or down in the next week!
Pork, can you (or anyone) point me to the FLSA regs that state this? I've been looking but can't find it anywhere and could really use it right now. Thanks a million!
This is the sentenced used by an auditor from our local friendly Wage and Hour folks with me sitting at her right arm, and "Audry" made me underline and hi-lite in yellow back in 1985, so I would never forget it. It was my friend Audry that led me to the understanding of the role of HR/payroll and getting employees paid. She explained that they are taught to jump on employee complaints and go forward and search out the company and train the leaders on appropriate payroll actions to stay out of trouble and to keep the "Audrys out of my hair". We have talked many times since and we have discussed my training opportunity and the fact that the law on FLSA has not changed. I quit chasing "Tom, Dick, and Harry" in 1985 and my HR life has been much easier since. By insuring everyone who works gets a paycheck each week or know why one did not helps to keep ees from picking up the telephone and calling "Audry" to get her to come down and whip-up on my old grey head. It is smart business and you know since whipping out my reference FLSA law copy and turning to a "hog" eared page hi-lited in yellow with any of my peers in any one of 5 different companies, I have not been challenged when I point the concerned ee to go and discuss his/her pay with the supervisor/manager. All have helped me to keep the work force at peace and are happy to have an HR with a helping solution to the issues. We pay now and fix next week when in doubt!
Hope this helps you solve your concerns, it is there you just have to use the Bible to support your actions.
PORK
Anyway, thanks again everyone!
To me that means that you don't have to pay them if you don't know what they worked. I can't determine what to pay them if I don't know if they worked 30 or 40 hours.
I get the part about not raising any flags with DOL, but I can't find anything in the law that says, "you must pay even if you have no idea what to pay".
Thanks,
Now, if you are in a rare situation of actually not being sure how many hours someone worked because no supervisor was on hand and no record was made by the company, as is required by law, and the employee cannot show evidence of having a certain number of hours, you would be allowed to pay wages for hours worked according to his standard work day or shift.
The real danger in a loose system is that an employee can come along much later, produce logs or handwritten calendar notes and the employer cannot refute that....and the DOL requires that employer to pay back wages and can level stiff penalties.
Can you tell us what it is about your system that resulted in your not knowing actual hours worked?