Q&A

How early should you show up for a shift?

How early should you show up for a shift?

They may explicitly state that you need to show up 10 minutes early so that you can be ready for when your shift starts. However, if your supervisor is requiring you to be there 10 minutes early then that is time they are not paying you for and you should report this to whatever labor agency your state has.

How to get employees to show up on time?

If you’re not actively communicating that you expect employees to show up on time, they may think you don’t care if they’re late. Make sure the employee handbook spells out the expectations about work hours and arriving on time and remind employees of those expectations on a regular basis, such as in staff meetings.

Can a employer demand that you show up for work early?

We know things happen, and if you are going to be late, please call us to let us know. So in summary we clearly see that pre-shift work does qualify as work time which means you should have been paid for it. Your employer explicitly requested employees to come in early, which means they would have known that employees were beginning work early.

How do we handle employees who clock in too early?

Q. We have employees who clock in 20 to 30 minutes before the start of the work day. They don’t perform work until their shift starts. The employees say they will forget to clock in if they don’t do so when they arrive. Can we adjust their start time to reflect when they start working?

How often do employees show up late for work?

Employee lateness is a widespread problem. A 2016 survey by CareerBuilder found that one in four employees admits to showing up late for work once a month, whereas 13 percent of employees say it’s a weekly occurrence.

If you’re not actively communicating that you expect employees to show up on time, they may think you don’t care if they’re late. Make sure the employee handbook spells out the expectations about work hours and arriving on time and remind employees of those expectations on a regular basis, such as in staff meetings.

Q. We have employees who clock in 20 to 30 minutes before the start of the work day. They don’t perform work until their shift starts. The employees say they will forget to clock in if they don’t do so when they arrive. Can we adjust their start time to reflect when they start working?

We know things happen, and if you are going to be late, please call us to let us know. So in summary we clearly see that pre-shift work does qualify as work time which means you should have been paid for it. Your employer explicitly requested employees to come in early, which means they would have known that employees were beginning work early.

When do you punch in early for a shift?

When an employee punches in early for a shift or punches out late at the end of the day, the FLSA does allow you to “disregard” the additional time outside the normal shift ifthe employee does not actually perform any work.