Help! Docking wages
nohr4u1yr
218 Posts
Happy New Year!!!
Our company wants to implement a policy that if an employee forgets to clock in/out during lunch that we dock them 2 hours pay. I know that we can not do that but I can't seem to relay the information to the officers. One of the things I stated is the we could have the DOL open up a 3-ring circus here auditing our files if we did that.
Please provide me with any insight on how to make this point to them.
Thank you!!!
Our company wants to implement a policy that if an employee forgets to clock in/out during lunch that we dock them 2 hours pay. I know that we can not do that but I can't seem to relay the information to the officers. One of the things I stated is the we could have the DOL open up a 3-ring circus here auditing our files if we did that.
Please provide me with any insight on how to make this point to them.
Thank you!!!
Comments
I know of no circumstances where an Er may permit an ee to work - and not pay. The proper discipline is something other than docking - suspension, warning, termination - but not docking someone's wages who has put in the time. Surely, everyone can understnad that logic. After the DOL is finished, you can count on paying double the damages, a fine, and the ee's attorneys fees as well. Document your advice and let them get burned. They can't all be idiots - are they?
See 29 USC 203 g 'suffered or permitted to work' and 29 CFR 785.7.
See also 785.13. I know your situation is that ees are presumably 'not' working, just failed to cl;ock off - but the rule is the same: management has not only the power but the duty to enforce its rules, but it cannot enofrce by failing to pay for other work actually done.
3 in 30 days is a three days suspension without pay. We do nothing until they reach 3 other than warn them when they have 2. We do have them sign a print out of each lateness to make sure they are aware of these violations and then put them in the attendance file.
**When we do for others what they should do for themselves, we disempower them.**
Thanks for the responses - I needed to vent and read that I am not off my rocker!
Don't have to type it that often though!
You're correct, of course, about docking of wages for hours that EEs did work.
But if the real issue is EEs accurately recording their hrs worked, there's another route to go to solve this. As long as you have a policy that clearly states that hourly EEs must clock out during their lunch hr, and clock back in when they return to work, anyone who fails to follow this procedures is falsifying their time card.
Provided that your policy clearly states that it is a violation of policy for EEs to knowingly submit a false time report, and specifies the sanctions that would be applied for falsification of time cards, you can go forward with disciplining people who do not comply. But if you have not enforced this policy in the past, I would recommend a company-wide advance announcement that you'll be cracking down on falsified time cards, issued at least a wk or 2 before you actually discipline anyone.
Of course, the sanction applied should not be docking of wages for hours an EE did work--- but a suspension w/o pay, or something along that line would be OK.
Hope this was helpful,
hrdir03
But keep in mind as well, if an employee performs any work on their lunch break, such as take a phone call, they have to be paid for that work.