Employers who don’t follow the rules regarding time sheets and electronic time-keeping records are receiving very costly rulings from the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE).

The DLSE is very clear about how time records should be handled.  Time records are considered inadequate if  employees’ time sheets are filled in with the same times each day.  For example, the employee reports he started work at 8:00 AM every day, took a meal period at Noon every day, and then left for the day at 5:00 PM every day.  Employees do not, in actuality, report to work or take their lunch at exactly the same time everyday.  There is always at least a slight variation.

Check time sheets to be sure employees are writing in the exact times they arrive, take meal breaks and leave for the day.  It doesn’t matter if an employee has taken and recorded every meal period.  If the time sheet shows exactly the same time every day, the labor commissioner will accept the employee’s word that the meal period was written in but not taken or that the employee worked overtime but forgot to write it in.

While nobody wants to be the time sheet police, it can be very expensive to allow inaccurate time reporting.  Electronic records have become the target for a large number of complaints to the labor commissioner. Issues with time cards can support other complaints if they contain inaccuracies or other problems that would invalidate your defense.  Here are a few simple things you can do to ensure you don’t end up defending a time sheet issue in court:

• Employees must sign their time records – even the electronic versions.  An unsigned time record is not adequate and will not be considered valid by the labor commissioner.  You must design some means for employees to review their time and sign the time record. They don’t have to sign the record prior to payroll, but it should be within the week following the end of the pay period.
• Employees must sign an acknowledgment of their work time on their time sheet, time card or electronic record stating that, under penalty of perjury, it is an accurate record.  Contact me if you need the recommended language for the acknowledgment statement.
• Be sure employees are credited for the time it takes to clock in.  It’s fine if it’s simple and takes very little time.  However, waiting for a computer to load may take more than a few minutes. Many employees have been awarded back pay and overtime because they were not compensated for the time required for their computer to load before they could clock in.  If the employee only has to wait a minute or two, it is not a problem.  However, if it is more than that, employers should determine the amount of time the employee must wait to clock in and automatically add the wait period to the employee’s work hours for the day
• Does your time clock round up or down to the nearest ¼ hour?  Rounding must sometimes benefit an employee who is late and sometimes benefit the employer when the employee is early.  If employees are generally a little early, the benefit to the employer may be greater than the benefit to the employee.  Unfortunately, that is true in many organizations.  If the rounding benefits the employer more often than it benefits the employee, a complaint to the labor commissioner can be very expensive.  Set the time clocks to record exact times. The potential problems far outweigh any valid reasons for rounding.

If you have any questions, please contact Champion and we can help you tighten your procedures or develop an automated time tracking  system to properly track your employees’ time while saving time and money.