Columbus, Ohio Rounding Attorney
LEGAL MATTERS HANDLED PERSONALLY SINCE 1957
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), time rounding is permitted, provided that certain rules are followed. What is time rounding? Time rounding occurs when an employer rounds an employee’s clock-in time either forward or backward. To do this, the first rule that an employer must follow is that the time interval which the employer rounds off the employee’s time should not exceed a 15-minute period. This means, that an employer cannot round a clock in time of 7:40 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., as that would be a 20-minute round off.
However, the Department of Labor requires that a 7-minute increment be used: if the employee clocked in more than 7 minutes before the shift started, say 7:50 a.m. for an 8:00 a.m. shift, then the employer must round off to 7:45 a.m. Contrast this to a situation where the employee clocks in at 7:54 a.m. In that scenario, the employer can round off to 8:00 a.m. The same approach is taken for clocking out more or less than 7 minutes after a shift ended.
In using a rounding policy, the employer must make sure that the policy will not result in a failure to compensate employees properly for all the time they have actually worked. A permissible rounding policy should average out over a period of time; for example, an employee may have clocked in 6 minutes early and not be credited for that time, but he or she may have left 6 minutes early and yet be credited for that time. If the rounding policy consistently results in employees not being credited for their time, that is a violation of the FLSA.
Contact Our Columbus Rounding Attorneys
If you or someone you know was involved in rounding, contact Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, LLP. Our attorneys can assist you and sort the specifics of your case.
Call us today at 614-221-4221 for a Free Consultation or email us at info@barkanmeizlish.com.
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