Supervisors "adjusting" employees' time

LindaS · September 2003

It has recently come to my attention that supervisors, on a regular basis, are ajusting employees' time clockings. We use a "swipe" system and supervisors have the ability to go into the employee's recorded times each day and adjust their clockings to reflect the actual hours worked. In addition, it has also been reported to me that there are several individuals who routinely report to work late but whose times are adjusted by the supervisor to reflect that they were "on time". I feel that there are numerous problems with this but want to know if you guys agree and if so, what would be the best way to address it.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

Hunter1 · September 2003

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-18-03 AT 03:10PM (CST)[/font][p]Linda: As you know, there could be a number of FLSA problems with this. I guess the way to deal with supervisors is to tell them that you'll 'adjust' their hours to zero if they continue to do this. : )

Edit: Also, how do you uphold any attendance discipline if some employees are getting preferential treatment?

gillian2 · September 2003

Yes, lots of problems. You should research your state wage and hour regulations to find the one which deals with time records, rounding time etc. You should then try to determine how much is add on vs reduced time and try to develop some numbers that deal with unpaid wages, overpayment of wages and penalties. Then figure out the best way to bring this to the attention of the supervisors without destroying relationships with them. Perhaps if you go above their head you will be labeled as a troublemaker and it will become difficult to address other issues. On the other hand, maybe that is what you need to do - only you can judge.

Sunny · September 2003

Linda: I see many problems with this. If your supervisors are paying for time not worked they are committing fraud. This needs immediate attention - I hate to sound harsh but I would seriously consider terminating a supervisor who fraudently altered time cards.

As I understand it, the Supervisor's access is for the purpose of correcting errors that occur when employees fail to clock in or work hours that are outside the parameters of the system. We had a similar system at one of the plants I took over, but the Supervisors did not have access. The sheets were printed by Payroll at the end of the week and the clerk called the supervisors for clarification of any anomalies. If you don't want to take the harder road, you might consider restricting their access. Whatever you do, it is my opinion that you should do it soon.

marc · September 2003

Of course, the wrongful termination lawsuit for attendance violations would have a great case when they got to your inconsistent treatment of employees by various supervisors.

rad · September 2003

In my company, falsifying time reports is grounds for immediate termination. Not that I'm suggesting you take such a drastic approach right now but if your company paid, I assume, lots of money for this swipe system, it is so that the time would be accurate. Doesn't do a lot of good if it can be overriden. Can you change the sysytem so that it can not be adjusted or so that only one person, higher-up than the supervisors, can make adjustments?

I would immediately address the issue with your supervisors and, if you have a policy, reference this and explain the discipline involved with falsifying time reports. If you don't have a policy, you may want to come up with one.

Rob S · September 2003

I don't know what system you are on, but several that I have seen will let you know if the record was by card swipe, or by a manager putting it in manually (and who the manager is),and often it will also list records that were deleted or changed. If there is a paper trail (electronic paper trail that is), you should be able to find out how big this problem is, and who the abusers are.

I also agree with a previous poster that this is a criminal act and abusers should be terminated. There is little/no difference between a person falsify records to get $100 of pay and a person stealing $100 out of a cash drawer.

Rob

Pork · September 2003

as the vendor's point of entry in our company, I would meet with the vendor representative to change the access entry codes, followed by a memo to the General Manager that you have discovered a programming error with the system and the system has now been fixed so that our supervisors/managers are not held accountable for inaccurate and erroneous reportable information which could have impacted upon our bottomline with law suits and angry employees. with copy furnished to the managers/supervisors.

If you can't fix their ability to do wrong, then put their feet to the fire and let them answer for their wrong doing. Just try not to be judgemental, give the problem to your boss and step away! I might just have to be the bad guy for the sake of the company, and all other good employees being treated differently.

PORK

SW · September 2003

I would change your system to not allow supervisors to adjust the time clock hours themselves. We only allow our Payroll department to change recorded hours and she only changes them with a signed authorization from the employee and the supervisor. 99% of the time it is for a missed punch. If we see a pattern or anything suspicious, we would investigate. Your senior management needs to hold the supervisors responsible and they in turn need to hold their employees accountable. That is aside from the obvious FSLA violations that could cost your company big bucks!

Good Luck!

SW

LindaS · September 2003

Thanks to all of you who responded. Our production manager is currently on vacation, scheduled to return tomorrow, and I plan on having a meeting with him to discuss a variety of issues, this being one of the main ones. I just had a supervisor leave my office after coming in and complaining about this exact same issue. It seems that employees are coming in tardy quite often and their times are adjusted, as long as they "make up" the time. I have also been informed that EEs are using too many "last minute" vacation days which is in violation of our collective bargaining agreement plus EEs are "flexing" their schedules more than the policy allows. I am going to have to tighten up on these types of things and change the way they are done. I'm sure the EEs aren't going to be too happy but what else can I do?

Thanks again.

marc · September 2003

Following your policies and procedures now may indeed cause some discomfort, but they are in place to avoid the significant pains that come when they are not in place or are enforced inconsistently. Protecting the company is not always the fun job.

LFernandes · September 2003

Not too long ago, we had this issue come up. According to the DOL, you should't change the punches unless you have a good reason to i.e, missed punch, legitimate absence, etc. The reason being you need to pay for all the hours worked but if you have a supervisor changing the hours on you, there is no way to track it.

Example: EE 1 comes in 10 minutes early but the Supervisor adjusts the hours to the "correct" punch in time. The EE works OT that day because of the extra punch time punched in but doesn't get paid for it because of the adjustment. This happens several times. You now have a pissed off employee who goes to the DOL. The DOL comes in and finds that your supervisor's have been adjusting punches and you now owe in back overtime (EE word against yours and Employer looses) plus fines and whatever else the DOL can find because you can't prove if the employee was working or not and you now have false payroll records.

Our timeclock system has an audit trail which will show what punches have been adjusted. I've gotten into some heated debates with supervisors who think that they should be allowed to adjust punches and my answer is always NO. At this point only HR has the capability of changing punches times. The supervisors get weekly punch reports showing the time but if there are no adjustments due to missed punches, sick, vacation, personal time, etc. THE PUNCHES STAND!!

Sorry to rant but this is a BIG pet peeve of mine!

LFernandes

Supervisors "adjusting" employees' time

Comments