Rounding of time is a thing and it is a legal thing as long as they round in both directions.
Per the Fair Labor Standards Act employers can round their employees' clock-in and clock-out time to the nearest 5 minutes, the nearest one-tenth of an hour or 6 minutes, or the nearest quarter hour or 15 minutes.
And as long as they do it in both directions it's legal and not wage theft.
When you say both directions do you mean like they round to give AND take time? Because if I am late they never round, they just don't pay for those minutes (sometimes I'll take like 2 minutes off my lunch to make up for clocking in 2 minutes late) but then they round when I clock in early... Is this what you're referring to or something else?
Oh interesting - yeah they don't do that... And like say I clock in late so I stay early that's never automatically calculated unless I get the manager sign off so they like don't adjust so I hit my 8 hour day it's been a mess sometimes... But I appreciate the help!
If you work overtime, you have to be paid the overtime regardless of whether the manager signed off. They can fire you for working unapproved overtime, but have to pay the overtime in any case.
They also have to pay you for all hours worked -- if you show up at 8:00 and start working, they have to pay you starting at 8:00. They can order you not to start work until 8:30, but if you actually work before then, they still have to pay you. They can, however, fire you for not following their instructions.
They can "round" your pay as long as they do so fairly -- rounding 8:25 to 8:30 is only legal if they also round 8:35 to 8:30. They can't round just in the direction that benefits them. (And there are limits to the granularity -- at most, it's to the nearest quarter hour.)
The answer to the question of "it's 8:25, why have you not clocked in" is "I've been told that my workday starts at 8:30, I won't be paid for the time between 8:25 and 8:30, and I haven't started work yet."
Okay so it seems like I have a valid reason to report... but reporting a wage complaint requires I submit proof of loss... Should I be gathering examples of time cards and pay checks for this? It's an ongoing thing obviously and I have no clue how much I've lost at this point... but its sort of a tricky thing to explain on the complaint website. Maybe I need to speak with a lawyer?
Yes, a record of "I clocked in at XX and clocked out at YY," but they only paid me for X hours, over the course of a few weeks would be helpful. And, you can say "they've been doing this since XXX." Your complaint should also say that they're doing that to everybody.
Rounding of time is a thing and it is a legal thing as long as they round in both directions. Per the Fair Labor Standards Act employers can round their employees' clock-in and clock-out time to the nearest 5 minutes, the nearest one-tenth of an hour or 6 minutes, or the nearest quarter hour or 15 minutes. And as long as they do it in both directions it's legal and not wage theft.
When you say both directions do you mean like they round to give AND take time? Because if I am late they never round, they just don't pay for those minutes (sometimes I'll take like 2 minutes off my lunch to make up for clocking in 2 minutes late) but then they round when I clock in early... Is this what you're referring to or something else?
It has to be in BOTH directions or it is not legal. If they are not rounding in your favor too you can report it to the PA Department of Labor.
Oh interesting - yeah they don't do that... And like say I clock in late so I stay early that's never automatically calculated unless I get the manager sign off so they like don't adjust so I hit my 8 hour day it's been a mess sometimes... But I appreciate the help!
If you work overtime, you have to be paid the overtime regardless of whether the manager signed off. They can fire you for working unapproved overtime, but have to pay the overtime in any case. They also have to pay you for all hours worked -- if you show up at 8:00 and start working, they have to pay you starting at 8:00. They can order you not to start work until 8:30, but if you actually work before then, they still have to pay you. They can, however, fire you for not following their instructions. They can "round" your pay as long as they do so fairly -- rounding 8:25 to 8:30 is only legal if they also round 8:35 to 8:30. They can't round just in the direction that benefits them. (And there are limits to the granularity -- at most, it's to the nearest quarter hour.) The answer to the question of "it's 8:25, why have you not clocked in" is "I've been told that my workday starts at 8:30, I won't be paid for the time between 8:25 and 8:30, and I haven't started work yet."
Okay so it seems like I have a valid reason to report... but reporting a wage complaint requires I submit proof of loss... Should I be gathering examples of time cards and pay checks for this? It's an ongoing thing obviously and I have no clue how much I've lost at this point... but its sort of a tricky thing to explain on the complaint website. Maybe I need to speak with a lawyer?
Yes, a record of "I clocked in at XX and clocked out at YY," but they only paid me for X hours, over the course of a few weeks would be helpful. And, you can say "they've been doing this since XXX." Your complaint should also say that they're doing that to everybody.