FLSA timekeeping

jbnunzio

We currently use an Excel program for our non-exempt employees to keep track of their time. The program rounds to the next quarter hour, so therefore, even if an employee arrives at 8:01am, their start time is clocked as 8:15. And if they leave at 5:13pm, they are listed as clocked out at 5:00pm since they did not reach the next quarter hour. Are we permitted to do this under FLSA and also if our pay period is two weeks and a non-exempt employee works 30 hours during week one and 50 hours during week two, we are responsible for 10 hours of overtime, am I correct?

Margaret Morford

You are responsible for the 10 hours overtime. It's forty hours per work week. The employer gets to determine when the work week begins and ends. It doesn't matter how often you pay them for those hours.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge

jbnunzio

Thank you for the reaffirmation. Did you by any chance have any input on the timekeeping issue about rounding in the employer's favor vs. the employee?

CuriousG

Your "rounding" method violates the FLSA. Generally rounding is considered legal if on the whole it errors about equally for and against the employer. Yours is purposely designed to favor the employer in every situation. To be legitimate, you need to have your spreadsheet round to the "nearest" quarter hour. This will mean that the employee clocking in at 5:01-5:07:30 will be rounded down to 5:00, and the employee who clocks in after 5:07:30 will be rounded "up" to 5:15.

Likewise, on clocking out the employee who clocks out between 5:01 and 5:07:30 should be rounded "down" to 5:00 and the employee clocking out after 5:07:30 should be rounded up to 5:15.

Using this method of rounding is not fool proof. The USDOL/Wage & Hour could still rule that in reality the actual clock punches tend to favor your company more than your employees and invalidate your rounding method, however, it still gives you a better chance of surviving and audit, than one that is purposely weighted against the employee, like you now use.

mr8267

We round to the nearest quarter hour as was suggested. However, could we make it a policy to count the entire time you worked, then round to the nearest quarter hour? For example: They signed in at 8:07 and out at 4:25 = 8 hours 18 minutes worked. Rounding when signing in and out would give them 8.5 hours. Rounding hours worked at the end of the day would give them 8.25 hours. Which would be better? It seems like rounding at the end of the day would be more accurate.