Many employers use automated time clocks to track employee time. Employees clock in to begin their shifts and out to end it. Many systems easily calculate non-exempt employee hours and automatically prepare time sheets for payroll purposes. However, some employers use older systems. As a result, they must manually calculate employee hours and submit them for payroll.
Many employers will round time up or down to help calculate hours for payroll. The practice is legal as long as the rounded hours pay employees for all hours worked (or more). The practice cannot benefit employers. Employers who do not follow the rules regarding time rounding violate wage and hour laws.
When your employer violates wage and hour lawyers, you need a top wage and hour lawyer to help ensure you get the fair compensation you deserve. The dedicated and best wage and hour lawyers at the Derek Smith Law Group in New York City, Philadelphia, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New Jersey can help.
Tell us about your situation so we can get started fighting for you. We tailor each case to meet our clients’ needs.
Time rounding is a practice in the workplace. It occurs when employers round the clock in and out times for hourly employees. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state laws allow time-rounding in many situations. However, the practices must follow specific rules.
The law only allows employers to round time up or down in increments of 15, 10, or 5 minutes (or anywhere between). The law prohibits any time rounding practices that round time up or down by 30, 45, 0r 60 minutes. Keeping time rounding practices to ÂĽ hour or less allows employers to keep more accurate and fair time rounding practices. There is less room for error.
When employers round time up or down by 15 minutes, they must follow the 7-minute rule. The 7-minute rule says that employers must round all time 7 minutes after the ÂĽ hour down and all time 7 minutes before the 1/4 hour up. For instance, an employee clocks in at 7:46. The time gets rounded down to 7:45. However, if they clock in at 7:55, the clock gets rounded up to 8:00.
The FLSA says time rounding practices are legal. However, they must follow specific guidelines. Employers violating these guidelines commit wage and hour violations and wage theft. The law says that any time rounding must benefit the employee over the employer. In other words, employees must get paid for all the time worked. For example, an employee clocks in at 7:53. Their time gets rounded to 8:00. Then they clock out at 4:53. The employer cannot round the time down to 4:45. They must round up to 5. As a result, the employee gets paid for all the hours worked.
Employers violate time-rounding practices in the workplace in several ways. Some examples of these violations include the following:
These examples are just a few ways employers violate wage and hour laws and time-rounding practices in the workplace. If your employer violates time rounding rules in any way, you need a top wage and hour lawyer to help you fight for fair compensation. The best wage and hour lawyers at the Derek Smith Law Group can help.
Time-rounding practices have a significant effect on employee pay. Violations can cut employees’ fair compensation for the hours worked.
However, it can do more damage than cutting straight pay. Employees may lose overtime hours and pay if an employer violates the time rounding practices rules. As a result, they can lose 1.5 times their hourly rate for overtime hours.
You have a right to demand fair compensation from your employer. If they want to retaliate against you and fire you for bringing the time rounding violation to their attention, you may have a claim for wrongful termination. As a result, you can seek legal remedies for wage theft and wrongful termination. Working with the best wage and hour lawyers at the Derek Smith Law Group can help you get the compensation you deserve.
Employers may look for ways to cut corners. They may understand the need to pay employees on the table. Therefore, they may look for ways they think no one will notice to cut payroll expenses. One way to do so is to attempt to violate the rules of time rounding in the workplace. When they violate these rules, they can save significant money by avoiding overtime pay and cutting hours so slightly that many employees may overlook it. Employees often do not know the laws to know employers are violating them.
Employers cannot commit wage theft by violating time rounding practices violations. You have a right to demand fair compensation for all worked hours. When your employer tries to steal money from you, you have the right to hold them accountable. First, you may inform your employer that they improperly rounded your time. However, if they refuse to correct the issue and pay you the money you lost, you have a right to file a claim against them. The top wage and hour lawyers at the Derek Smith Law Group can help.
Time rounding violations are a form of wage theft. Therefore, employers must pay employees for the stolen time as well as additional damages. Many courts will order the employer to pay liquidated damages (two times the money owed for lost wages). Courts may also insist employers pay punitive damages to their employees. Punitive damages are used to punish the employer and prevent them from conducting such actions in the future.
Working with a top wage and hour lawyer can help you get the compensation you deserve. Your attorney can file your claim within the 2-year time frame allowed by law (three years if wage theft was intentional). They can prepare you for depositions and trials. They can work to help settle your claim before going to trial to ensure you get the maximum remedies allowed by law.
Everyone is entitled to get paid for the time they work. The law clearly says that time-rounding procedures should benefit the employee first. If your employer refuses to abide by the law, you have the right to fight back and hold them accountable. The best wage and hour lawyers at the Derek Smith Law Group in Philadelphia, New York City, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New Jersey can help. Call 800.807.2209 for a free consultation.
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Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also t…
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also t…
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also t…
The law allows employers to conduct time-rounding practices at work. However, the time-rounding practices must always benefit the employee over the employer. Time rounding must allow employees to earn money for the hours they worked or more.
Time rounding violations are wage theft. The federal law states that employees have two years (three years if the acts were intentional) to file a wage theft claim.
Employers must provide employees with at least one 20-minute paid non-food break a day. They cannot make you clock out for that break.
Employers of non-exempt employees cannot force employees to do any work under any circumstances without pay. If you clocked out for the day, your workday and obligations are over. If you conduct any work after hours, track it and require your employer to pay you for that time.
Your employer can round your time up or down as needed. However, if they round it to every 15 minutes, they must follow the seven-minute rule. The seven-minute rule means 7 minutes past the ÂĽ hour must be rounded down. 7 minutes before the ÂĽ hour, get rounded up.
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Learn more about time-rounding practices in the workplace and your related rights. Call us for a free consultation. 800.807.2209.
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