Punching Time Cards

Ginger

Is there a written law excerpt stating what an employers responsible is if an employee forgets to punch in and out on a given day?

Case: Operations Manager chose not to pay an employee because he did not punch in or out. Supervisor knew employee was at work that day, but Manager told Supervisor not to pay until next payroll run in order to teach the employee a lesson.

Has this happened to you? How did you handle it?

Thank you.

System

Federal law requires that you pay employees for all time worked. Failure to punch in should be treated as any other disciplinary infraction, but you can't withhold wages, particularly if the supervisor knows the employee was at work.

Cathy

I have an additional senerio in regards to payment of missed punches. If an employee's missed punch was not discovered until they received their paycheck, is it permissable to wait until the next payday to pay the employee for missed hours or does an employer need to cut the employee a seperate check?

Ginger

I'm not sure the legal answer, but in this situation, I usually ask the employee if it would be okay to wait until the next payroll run. If yes, do that and note their agreement. If no, I have cut them a manual check. The employees answer usually depends upon the number of missed hours and the $$$ impact.