Is punch rounding legal?

California employers are prohibited from rounding time-clock punches for employee meal periods, according to a recent ruling by the state’s high court. Employees in the Golden State generally must receive a 30-minute unpaid meal break for every five hours they work.

What is time punching rounding?

Time Clock Punch Rounding is the process of rounding the time clock punches to make payroll calculations simpler or to give the employees a grace period when starting or ending work.

What is a rounding policy?

Rounding is the practice of adjusting an employees’ recorded time worked to the nearest preset increment for compensation purposes. Superior Court, its progeny and related federal cases, rounding policies are lawful under both California and federal law if they are neutral facially and as applied.

Is it legal to round down hours?

According to the Department of Labor (DOL), timesheet rounding is legal, as long as it’s done correctly. When it comes to rounding, there are three rules employers must follow to ensure compliance. Timesheet rounding can’t favor employers. In other words, employers can’t always round employee time down.

Is it against the law to punch clock?

If her shift starts at 3:00 pm and she clocks in after 3:00 pm the punch clock calculates her start time to the next half-hour of 3:30 pm. She stated that this is against the law. All employees are scheduled to start at hours or half hours in time, never at quarter hours.

What are the rules for rounding time down?

For instance, if an employee works 8 hours and one minute they will round his time down to 8.0 hours. If, the next day, he works seven hours and fifty-eight minutes, they will round his time down to 7.75 hours. This employer has broken the law.

Can a California Clock rounding policy be challenged?

Any California clock rounding policy that fundamentally favors the company — whether it is because it violates the law by only rounding hours down or because it otherwise systematically results in underpayment of workers — can and should be challenged through a wage and hour claim.

What’s the law on rounding the number of hours worked?

Likewise, both federal and state agencies take the position that employers may round to the nearest five minutes, six minutes, or quarter-hour for purposes of calculating the number of hours worked.⁠ 8 An issue closely related to rounding disputes involves the employer’s obligation to track and pay for very small periods of work beyond work hours.

What does California law say about time clock rounding?

So, while it allows a punch in time of 8:53AM to be rounded up to 9:00AM it then requires an employer to round the punch out time for the day from 5:08PM to 5:15PM. Employers cannot apply different rules to punching in and out in an effort to minimize recorded hours. What Does California Law Say About Time Rounding?

When is punching the clock not hours worked?

Early or late punching of the clock is not hours worked when no work is done. Likewise, minor differences between the clock records and actual hours worked cannot ordinarily be avoided since all employees cannot clock in or out at precisely the same time.

Is there a way to round up time punches?

The US Department of Labor allows for rounding of time punches. Specifically it allows for a rounding scheme to the nearest 15 minutes but only if that scheme is applied impartially and consistently. For example, it allows for a time of 5:07PM to be rounded down to 5:00PM and 5:08PM to be rounded up to 5:15PM.