time clock
Grubby
4 Posts
How early can you require a person "punch in" to get ready to work. We are debating whether employees should be ready to work at 0700 or just be punching in. In a shop environment this being ready to work could be the difference of 5 - 10 min in the morning and the same in the afternoons as people get ready to leave. In a 30 person shop a 10 min delay results in 300 mins or 5 mn-hrs that is wasted. We're starting to feel the economy pinch and it's going to get progessively worse, so we're trying to think of ideas to increase our efficiency. A arguement against an early punch in is once you require a person to be at work you have to commence pay at that time. So the question is; if I require a person to be at work 10 mins early to get ready for work does compensation start at 0700 or 0650?
Comments
You can't require that they do anything prior to punching in, and you have to pay them once you require them to punch in.
When you say "being ready to work", what do you mean? Are they donning safety equipment or ...?
At our company, the time our employees clock in varies from time to time, so let's say it's 8:00 a.m. to keep it simple.
At 7:58 a.m., some of them are just arriving at the company. At 8:00 a.m., they clock in. Part of their job is to ensure they wear proper personal protective equipment. We pay them for the few minutes (or seconds, even) it takes them to put on the equipment. Sometimes they have to perform another task, which may require a change of equipment (example: in order to operate a grinder, our employees MUST wear a face shield. We pay them those few seconds it takes to put on the face shield. We pay them for the time it takes for them to move from the grinding area to the welding area, take off the face shield, and put on a welding hood. It's ridiculous to make them clock out each time they're going to change tasks. We also have a small crew working in our shop at the moment, but it wouldn't change if we even had 25+ people.
It's almost like it sounds like you don't want to pay them for proper procedure, but that's just my opinion (unless I'm misinterpreting something).
-Justin
P.S.: Think of it this way... would you require office workers to be at work 10 minutes early to boot up their computers and get situated?
Yes I agree w/ all the comments, but our problem is having people run up to the clock punch in and then change into their work clothes or to chit chat w/ another person. We feel that if a person chooses to change into another set of clothing then they should do it before they punch in. The one thing we don't want to do is get into trouble so the if the answer is "let sleeping dogs lay" well so be it.
Thanks for all the feedback.
Thanks for all the feedback.[/quote]
This has not all been feedback and comments. We have questions. At least, I have questions. I need to know more to be able to help you more fully.
OK, now here are some comments:
If they show up in Jordache jeans and change into Levi's because they don't want to get grubby, they're not entitled to do that on the clock, assuming that "grubby" means normal contaminants like standard soil and not abnormal contaminants like coal tar. If they are clocking in so they can get paid to drink coffee and chat with their friends, they aren't entitled to that, either. Once they clock in, they're on Company time and you can tell them to do any legal thing you wish and they really need to do it to keep their jobs, assuming there is no CBA in place that would hinder your authority.
I work for a fabrication shop which includes the following trades; welders, carpenters, electrician, painters. We have personnel who arrive in their "Jorache" jeans and change into coveralls or other type of work clothes they don't want to damage. this includes grabbing a cup of coffee and downing it before they commence work. We are not talking about saftey gear or other type of required protection gear. We understand that safety gear is ok. When work was plentiful Supervisors grew lax and allowed this behavior. We are in the construction field and are feeling the economic down turn, so Management is considering layoffs. But I'm afraid that we're past considering and will lay personnel off. I realize that some might consider worrying about these 10 mins as being tyrannical, but in a shop of 33 workers this time adds up. This slack time is equivalent to 5.5 mn-hrs and in a time where jobs are scarce and go to the lowest bidder we need to be able to be more efficient. I believe the front line supervisors need to understand this need so that we can keep the doors open. This is not the only issue being reviewed, but its a low laying fruit.
[quote user="TXHRGuy"]
If they show up in Jordache jeans and change into Levi's because they don't want to get grubby, they're not entitled to do that on the clock, assuming that "grubby" means normal contaminants like standard soil and not abnormal contaminants like coal tar.
[/quote]
Once again, he's dead on the money. If your employees needed coveralls to be protected from paint, tar, chemicals, etc., then it would be considered personal protective equipment and they are entitled to change on the clock. As for the coffee and chit-chat, let them know they can do that during a break or before the shift begins... not when it's time to work.
Take a look at this blurb from a recent article:
To sum it up, time spent donning gear, walking to the production line, working, walking back to the locker room, and waiting to doff is compensable, as is an employer-caused wait to don. [...] So, meat-processing plants have their walking orders, but what about others? GCs representing public or private organizations that use workers whose jobs involve protective gear — such as jobs in medicine, dentistry, waste disposal, laboratories, food services, construction and emergency services — should take notice.
http://www.munckcarter.com/CM/Newsletters/20060403_iht_effects.pdf
Your post made me think of something... What is the earliest an employee is allowed to clock in? If an employee gets an hour or two extra every week because of early clock in and isn't compensated for it, there's the possibility of complaint. What will you do if that is the case? It sounds like a potential for trouble (unless I'm thinking too deeply into this).
[quote user="4valleypipes"]I was HR Mgr in your type of environment before. Our start time was 7:00 a.m. If someone clocked in early, that was there choice. Their time was rounded to 7:00 and they began the work day at that time. The rules in the hand book clearly stated what the work hours were unless they were scheduled for OT. Now that I own my business I still do the same thing for all of my employees and yes it is legal in VA according to my attorney. How is it written in your manual, if are you union or non-union can make a difference too.[/quote]
One thing to be careful of with the rounding is that if you have someone clock in at 6:45am and they actually start working, then you need to pay them for that 15 minutes, yet your timeclock is not. If the start time is 7am and someone is clocking in at 6:45am and working then this becomes a supervisor disciplinary issue, but you still have to pay them for the time worked.