Recording
Time and Rounding of Hours Worked
The North Carolina
Wage and Hour Act (WHA) does not require that an
employer have a time clock or use time cards, and
the WHA does not state who may or may not punch
an employee's time card. In fact, the WHA does not
require that time cards be signed by either the
employer or employee. The WHA does require that
an employer keep an accurate record of how many
hours a day and how many hours each workweek its
employees work. The record keeping requirements
pursuant to the WHA are found in N.C.G.S. 95-25.15(b)
and Administrative Rules Sections .0801 "Records
to Be Maintained" and .0802 "Record Retention".
The WHA and its Administrative Rules may be viewed
on-line.
The North Carolina
Department of Labor (NCDOL) has also adopted the
Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) 785 for Hours Worked.
Please refer to Subpart D "Recording Working
Time" found in 785.46 thru 785.48 for the federal
record keeping requirements. You may also want to
review CFR 516 "Records To Be Kept By Employers".
The federal Web sites are listed below:
Web site to go directly
to CFR 785 for Hours Worked:
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_785/toc.htm
Web site to go directly
to CFR 516 for Records To Be Kept By Employers:
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_516/toc.htm
The WHA also allows
the rounding of time worked as long as the rounding
is consistent "up and down". One method
of rounding is the 7/8 minute rounding rule: 7 minutes
round down and 8 minutes round up. Examples:
1) An employee's day
starts at 8:00 am. The employee clocks-in one day
at 8:05 am. Under the 7/8 minute rules, the employer
must round the start-time "down" to 8:00
am for this employee. But if the same employee clocks-in
another day at 8:09 am, then the employer can round
the start-time "up" to be 8:15 am.
2) An employee's time
to get off work is normally 5:30 pm. The employee
clocks-out one day at 5:36 pm, the employer can
round "down" so that this employee's stop-time
is rounded to 5:30 pm. But if this same employee
clocks-out at 5:39 pm, then the employer must round
"up" so that the employee's stop-time
is actually recorded as 5:45 pm; again using the
7/8 minute rounding rule.
As long as an employer
is consistent both "up and down" in the
rounding of time, then the fair and accurate recording
of time should work out in the long run. But please
keep in mind that an employer may still discipline
employees who do not report for work on time or
who work after their shift or day has ended without
permission. Also, while an employer must pay its
non-exempt employees time and one-half overtime
pay based on an employee's regular rate of pay for
all hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek,
the employer can discipline an employee, including
termination, for working the overtime hours without
permission. But the employer still must pay a non-exempt
employee the proper time and one-half overtime pay
for the overtime hours regardless if the employee
had approval or not.
If you have questions
as to what hours have to be recorded as work time,
on the rounding of time, or what kind of recording
keeping has to be used; or you have questions involving
the minimum wage and/or overtime pay, here's what
you need to do:
1) If the private
employer's gross sales or receipts for a year are
equal to or more than $500,000.00, if it is a part
of a chain operation with 3 or more units or there
are 30 or more employees, if the employer is a hospital,
school, nursing home, group home for the mentally
or physically disabled, or day care center, or the
employer is a domestic, agricultural or governmental
employer; then you need to contact the United States
Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division office
in either Charlotte (704-749-3360) or Raleigh (919-790-2741).
Web site: http://www.dol.gov.
2) If the private
employer's gross sales or receipts for a year are
less than $500,000.00 or you do not know, or the
employer is a private non-profit organization; then
you need to call us at 919-807-2796 (Raleigh) or
toll-free (NC only) 1-800-NC-LABOR (1-800-625-2267).
Our Call-Center is open from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm,
Monday thru Friday.
The NCDOL can assist
if the issue concerns wage payment, which has to
do with promised wages such as hourly pay at more
than the minimum wage, a promised salary, or shift
differential pay; or promised wage benefits such
as vacation pay, sick leave, severance pay, jury
duty pay, and holiday pay. Only governmental employers
are exempt from the wage payment provisions.
North Carolina Department
of Labor
Wage and Hour Bureau
1101 Mail Service
Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1101
(919) 807-2796 or (toll-free NC only) 1-800-NC-LABOR
Web site: http://www.nclabor.com
