Lunch breaks?

CAHR · April 2007

A couple things have come up and I'm hoping to get your input on this - these questions relate to our facilities in Kentucky and Ohio, so I'm figuring it would probably all fall under Federal law (unless you know of something under the applicable state laws). Are non-exempt employees required to take a lunch break? Or, if they don't (or can't) is that ok, as long as we pay them for it?

Also... do you have your employees sign off on their weekly timecards? I'm being told that is not a "normal" thing that is done back there - usually only the supervisor signs off? I have always been told we should definitely have the employee sign off on their hours....
Thanks for your help on this

njjel · April 2007

In NJ employers are NOT required to give a lunch hour to anyone other than minor children. We are in an office situation and all of our employees must sign their time sheets and then have it signed by their supervisor.

Susan in La · April 2007

We have non-exempt employees who work a "straight eight" hours and take no lunch break, and others who work eight and a half hours and take an unpaid half hour lunch. We too always have employees sign their timesheets unless they are out sick and unable to, then we get them signed when they come back.

Myrna Minkoff · April 2007

Ky does require both paid rest breaks and unpaid meal periods. KY has specific timing requirements for the meal period.

[url]http://www.labor.ky.gov/ows/employmentstandards/faq/[/url]

I don't believe that OH requires meal periods for adults, but you may want to check with the state DOL.

HRanna · April 2007

You are going to want to look at state laws in both states. In Ohio, there are no regulations that require you to give breaks, nor are employees required to take a lunch break. If a non-exempt works through his/her break, you are, of course, required to pay them for it. If you don't want them to work through lunch, but they do anyway, you would pay them then address it through the disciplinary process. Bottom line: if they want to work through lunch and you are O.K. with it and pay them for it, you are fine.

We do not have our employees sign their time cards, because they clock in and out electronically. By clocking in and out they are putting their "stamp of approval" on their hours. The Supervisors review the time sheets for accuracy. We use this process due to the size of our workforce -- we have about 185 hourly employees, so handling individual time sheets on each of them would make the payroll process even more cumbersome. HOWEVER I have always been concerned about the lack of a signature from the employee, as well.

We are actually going through a lawsuit with a former employee (long story, I won't go into it because I don't want to get my blood pressure up!) and he has brought up some claims about his attendance and payroll records. Our lawyers are not overly concerned that he did not sign his time cards, since he never brought up any issues or preceived discrepancies when he got his paychecks (which show the hours he was being paid for).

Hope that helps!

Susan in La · April 2007

We have 1,600 employees and each one fills out a written timesheet and signs it. Yes it is cumbersome, but it protects them and us if they question the hours for which they are being paid.

AnneHa · April 2007

Ohio doesn't require meal breaks, paid or unpaid. If you choose to provide unpaid meal breaks (longer than 20 minutes) an employee must be relieved of all work responsibilities for that period of time. As long as you pay for all time worked, no problem in Ohio.

Having employees sign off on time cards is just common sense. Why would you not want them to do that? In any case, it's not required by statute in Ohio.

Anne in Ohio

HRanna · April 2007

Why not have them sign off on their time sheets? Because we know we are paying them correctly, of course! We wouldn't possibly make a mistake, would we? And no one would ever challenge us!

Just kidding.

Seriously, I was thinking back at the four manufacturing facilities I have worked at and never have I had hourly plant employees sign and turn in a time sheet. All time was kept electronically. And I not originate any of these companies' policies -- all were in place when I started work there.

SO how many of you really, actually do have employees sign off?

Lisa In Iowa · April 2007

We require that all employees review and sign their timecard. We have approximately 110 non exempt employees in multiple locations. If they forget and are out of the office and don't turn in their timecard, the supervisor can sign it for them so that they are paid. However, the supervisor then has a discussion with them about the importance of turning in timecards by the deadline. We are looking at automating our time and attendance process, and the vendor that we are looking at offers the option to have all of the employees electronically "approve" their timecard, similar to signing it.

Lisa

davids · April 2007

In Oregon employees who work six or more hours must take a meal break of at least 30 minutes. The statute even dictates when the meal break must be taken (e.g., between the 3rd and 6th hours of work if the work shift is more than 7 hours). Employees cannot waive the meal period, even voluntarily. There are exceptions for certain positions that cannot be relieved from duty or in emergencies, but the exceptions are limited.

As for signing time cards, we have always required employees to confirm the hours worked with their signatures.

Clare · April 2007

No, exempt employees are not required to take a lunch break under the current laws.

I have always been advised that exempt employees should record their actual time worked, even if they are paid a salary. If someone's exempt status is reversed through litigation, you would have the correct records for paying back wages - which might be less than what the employee is claiming - IF your records are correct.

jmcaa · April 2007

Our employees complete a paper timesheet (2 weeks) and sign it. It is then given to the supervisor who signs all the timesheets after reviewing them.

We are in KY.

We also have employees who take a lunch some days and some days do not or take 1/2 hour instead of 1 hour but don't write this down on their timesheets. They will just put beginning time and ending time.

We also have exempt employees, some who write in the standard "8 to 5" hours and others who put in exact times.

CAHR · April 2007

Thanks for all your input! Where I am meeting opposition is for the employees who work out in the plant and punch a time clock - how about a "show of hands" for those employers who have timeclocks and their employees DO sign off on their punch card before it goes for payroll processing? :-)

NaeNae55 · April 2007

We don't have a time clock anymore, but when we did hourly employees received a print out of their time. They took any adjustments to their supervisor (someone always forgot to punch in or out) and then signed the time sheet. The supervisor then approved it, and sent it on to payroll. This is when we had about 100 employees.

Nae

NeedCoffee · April 2007

For our hourly employees, we have a timeclock that reads their handprint and electronically "punches" them in. Since the employees' own biometric data clocks them in/out every day, we don't have them sign off on their timesheets. However, we've recently had problems with a few employees forgetting to clock in/out or not getting a good hand scan, so for those employees, we're requiring them to sign off on their timesheets. That way, they are responsible for bringing any problems to our attention, not the other way around.

BettyBoop FL · April 2007

We have all employees sign off on time sheets/cards & supervisor approves before sending to payroll for payment. This has recently paid off for us as a disgruntled ex-employee claimed she had not been paid for overtime worked and filed a wage & hour lawsuit. In deposition our attorney asked her did she complete her own timesheet & if so was it accurate. Her answer was yes & her time sheets showed that in fact she had signed them all as required & any overtime recorded was paid. Case went nowhere.

Lunch breaks?

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