If my employer tracks hourly employees in 15 min intervals and I am 2 minutes late can they not pay me for the first 13 min I am working?

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If my employer tracks hourly employees in 15 min intervals and I am 2 minutes late can they not pay me for the first 13 min I am working?

If my employer tracks hourly employees in 15 min intervals and I am 2 minutes late for my shift can they not pay me for the first 13 min I am working? Can they round up because I was late for my shift? They don’t have a time keeping system so everything is tracked manual in 15 min timeframes.

Asked on June 30, 2017 under Employment Labor Law, Wisconsin

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 6 years ago | Contributor

 
No, they may not do this. Under the law (e.g. the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA), employees must be paid for all time they work. While rounding a minute or two is unobjectionable (the courts and labor departments try to be realistic), rounding by almost a quarter hour is not acceptable or legal. If you are two minutes late, they could most likely legally round to, say, 9:05, but not 9:15. What they are doing is illegal, and their system deficiencies is not a legal defense to their obligations; they need to upgrade their system to allow more accurate tracking.


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