NO PAY FOR EE WHO DOES NOT CLOCK IN

HENRY

HELLO EVERYONE,
NEED SOME ADVICE, I'M IN TEXAS, WORK IN AN AUTO DEALERSHIP, AND CONSTANTLY HAVE EMPLOYEES BOTH HOURLY AND COMMISSIONED WHO CONSTANTLY FORGET TO CLOCK IN AND OUT, MY BOSS WANTS ME TO TYPE A MEMO STATING THAT WHOEVER DOES NOT OR FORGETS TO CLOCK IN AND OUT AT ALL TIMES WILL NOT BE PAID. MY QUESTION IS, CAN I DO THIS? IS THIS LEGAL, TO WITHHOLD AN EMPLOYEE CHECK OR BETTER YET DOCK THEM FOR THAT TIME OR DAY THAT THEY DID NOT CLOCK IN?
MY SUGGESTION IS TO TYPE A MEMO STATING THAT WHOEVER DOES NOT CLOCK IN AND OUT WILL BE WRITTEN UP AFTER 3 WARNINGS, WILL BE SUSPENDED AND ON THE 4 TIME, IT MAY LEAD TO TERMINATION.

HELP ANYONE OUT THERE?

Don D

You're on the right track Henry, with your suggestion. It is not legal to fail to pay those employees if the employer knows or should have known that they were working. Failure to clock, clocking early, clocking late; those are disciplinary issues. It is illegal to not pay them for time worked. Your manager needs to pay more attention to public relations in the showroom and leave the other to you.

mushroomHR

I agree with Don D. We are a manufacturing company and have the same problems you are experiencing. We check with the supervisor, pay the employee if the supervisor confirms the employee was working, then handle the failure of clocking in/out as a disciplinary matter.

moneyman

We have a written procedure (not policy) for turning in timesheets and employees know up front that if there are problems with their timesheets, they might have a delay in payment for the days in question. It basically states that it is an employee responsibility to turn in a complete and accurate timesheet. And that we would make an effort to resolve any issues however we will not holdup payroll or pay for anytime that is questionable. And we have delayed payment a few times.

Sometimes an employee will be out on the day that the timesheet is due and they did not complete filling out the 2-week period. The supervisor is supposed to complete and verify, but we have had supervisors who were out at the same time and HR collects the incomplete timesheets. We have a very tight PR processing schedule and can't wait for the return of the employee, so any days in question are left out. It has been only one or two days, and after the employees saw evidence that we really were sticking to the procedure, they make very sure that they complete their timesheets. We pay for those days at the "earliest convenience" of the PR department, which sometimes means next pay period. There hasn't been a problem in a long time.

I don't know why they can't get it into their heads to make that their last thing before they walk out the door for the day. I have had people fill out the whole 2 week period and turn it in on the same day. Need less to say, those timesheets usually take the most time because there is often a day that was PTO that they mark as a regularly worked day.

njjel

I believe your company could be at risk withholding pay checks. In NJ if the employer knows an employee worked, the employee must be paid for all hours worked in the pay period it is due to be paid - time sheet or no time sheet, written policy or no. Perhaps you should check this out with your state DOL Div. Wage and Hour.

moneyman

The problem is that we don't actually know that the employee worked. In the situations where we delayed payment were for blank spots on the timesheet. The department supervisor would normally verify and approve, but if they are out too, then we omit a "blank" day from being paid within that cycle. I suppose that a poll of the rest of the department could be used, but we do not do that. We make it the employee's responsibility for turning in complete records, we go the next step by having a supervisor complete them if necessary. If the employee leaves a blank, and the supervisor isn't there to verify, then they do not get paid for that day on that paycheck. As soon as the information can be verified, the time will get paid, usually in the next cycle.

njjel

THe state of NJ requires we pay the ee for the hours we know or think they worked. We work a 35 hour work week. When this happens, (no time sheet), we pay the ee the 35 hours and make any adjustments (over or under) the following pay period. Of course progressive discipline should beging for failure to turn in time sheets timely (but it never does)!

marc

Njjel has mentioned part of the solution to your problem. You cannot withhold pay that for hours worked that you knew about or should have known about, but you can discipline the ees in question for not following your procedures. Following a progressive discipline approach will up the ante - they face a fate much worse than holding onto a check or two, they eventually face termination.