When it comes to overtime pay, there are some employers who will do anything to avoid it. You may have worked for an employer that watched hours very closely and stopped you from clocking in if it would mean you went into overtime. This is understandable since overtime pay costs them more money. However, there may be some employers in Missouri who take their methods too far and actually cheat you out of earned overtime pay. In fact, there is one practice that can sometimes break the law. This is called time clock rounding, and according to the United States Department of Labor, this is when an employer rounds your clock in and clock out times to the nearest quarter hour. For example, if an employer is rounding your times and you clock in at 1:28, then your time would be clocked for pay purposes as 1:30.
Employment laws to allow time clock rounding, but only under specific terms. Consider in the previous scenario if your employer clocked you in at 1:15, rounding down instead of rounding up, this could be problematic. If you clocked in at 1:07, your employer can legally round this down, but if you clock in at 1:08, your employer must round up. This is because the law says they can round down for one to seven minutes but must round up for eight to 14. The importance of time clock rounding and the laws regarding it is to ensure you get paid any overtime you are entitled to. If your employer is constantly rounding down when not legally allowed to do so, you could be losing out on overtime pay. This information is for education and is not legal advice.
Source: New feed
