PTO, Time Cards, Etc.
MarcS
27 Posts
I am new to this site but have a few questions on some procedures our company has implemented. We are a small Florida company that has tried to re-vamp our very loose rules on time off and office procedure. We have some issues that relate to PTO (Paid Time Off). We have a time card program that is on everyone's coputer and management can edit the time. We have instituted the 7 min rule here in that signing in or out within 7 mintues of the start and end time of the day i rounded to the hour. Here are my questions.
1) If someone signs out 7 min late every day, that creates 35 min of overtime in that week, do we have to pay that? Looking over the DOL rules on time clocks, it appears that no liability if the time is small and creates impracticalities for accounting. How do you resolve this issue, over time that 30-35 min extra can generate trmendous overtime; it seems our generosity in allowing 7 minutes early sign out will hurt us if someone signs out late.
2) to resolve #1, can we edit the time card to show they worked an 8 hour day, rather than an 8 hour and 5-7 min day?
3) In terms of the time cards, we have diabled the program so that employees can't print a copy, they can view it for the week, but can't print. They think that is unfair, we feel it's company property, are we right? We're not saying they can't look at them, they just can't print. Also, they think that because their SS# is on the card they are entitled to a copy....are they right or should we just remove the #?
4) Finalyy, we have decided that any time outside of the 7 mintues is deducted involuntarily from their PTO. Therefore, if someone is to be here at 9am and clocks in at 9:15, we pay them the 15min and deduct those 15 min from their PTO. They say they'd rather not be paid for the 15 min than have it deducted from their time. Is it ok for us to decide to pay and deduct this time from their PTO??
Sorry this is so long, need help!!! Any opinions and experiences are welcomed....
1) If someone signs out 7 min late every day, that creates 35 min of overtime in that week, do we have to pay that? Looking over the DOL rules on time clocks, it appears that no liability if the time is small and creates impracticalities for accounting. How do you resolve this issue, over time that 30-35 min extra can generate trmendous overtime; it seems our generosity in allowing 7 minutes early sign out will hurt us if someone signs out late.
2) to resolve #1, can we edit the time card to show they worked an 8 hour day, rather than an 8 hour and 5-7 min day?
3) In terms of the time cards, we have diabled the program so that employees can't print a copy, they can view it for the week, but can't print. They think that is unfair, we feel it's company property, are we right? We're not saying they can't look at them, they just can't print. Also, they think that because their SS# is on the card they are entitled to a copy....are they right or should we just remove the #?
4) Finalyy, we have decided that any time outside of the 7 mintues is deducted involuntarily from their PTO. Therefore, if someone is to be here at 9am and clocks in at 9:15, we pay them the 15min and deduct those 15 min from their PTO. They say they'd rather not be paid for the 15 min than have it deducted from their time. Is it ok for us to decide to pay and deduct this time from their PTO??
Sorry this is so long, need help!!! Any opinions and experiences are welcomed....
Comments
Regarding your 7 minute rule - if a person clocks out 7 minutes late, it should be rounded back to the hour and if they clock out 5 minutes early, it would be the same thing. The problem would probably come in if the ee is clocking in early every day and clocking out late. For example, if a person clocks in at 6:55 am and clocks out at 2:55 pm, they are getting paid correctly. As long as you consistently round forward and backward as necessary, you should be okay. Make sure the ees know how their time is being figured as well.
Regarding the time card issue - Why wouldn't you allow your employees to have a copy? In my experience employees have always received a copy of their time sheet and if you don't provide it, they will keep track of their time anyway. In addition, employees should be able to receive information regarding how their hours were determined and maintain a hard copy of that information should they so choose. Let them print a copy, this shows that there is nothing you are trying to "hide".
Regarding the PTO issue - Do you have a written policy that addresses this? My suggestion would be to deal with the tardiness on a disciplinary level instead of just deducting their PTO time. By not dealing with it on a disciplinary level you are sending the message that it is "okay" to report late for work and all that will happen will be that they are deducted 15 minutes of PTO.
I hope this helps.
I'm with you on the 7 mintue rule and we apply that consistently. I'm concerned that even if we round up or back, the card itslef reflects potential overtime even if we make an adjustment internally to just round and pay, so my question is can we modify the card to reflect this rounding???
I see what you are saying on the PTO and deduction. We think that the PTO deduction sends the message that if you are late you are punished because you have less PTYO throughout the remainder of the year. I wanted to see if anyone thought there are rules to prevent this. We do counsel, etc and say not to do it, but this is the thing that has caught attention and started to alleviate the problem. We don't want people having unpaid time off and a bank of paid time available because it shorts us of the labor we need throughout the year.
Thanks for you advice and responding to me!