Is it legal to round an employees hours?

Question

One clocks in 5 minutes early one day and the time is rounded to the next hour, then 5 minutes late the next day but loses the time. Definitely not fair for the employee but is it legal to do this?

Answer 1

You think 5 minutes is bad? Try 15. There was one company I worked for (and left once I found out they were doing this) that would round UP 15 minutes when you clocked in, round BACK 15 minutes when you clocked out for lunch, round FORWARD 15 minutes when you clocked back in, and rounded BACK when you clocked out by 15 minutes.

Legal? Probably. Ethical? No.
If they want to keep employees, they wont do this. Needless to say, that company had a high roll over.

Answer 2

My hours are clocked to the nearest 15 minutes, whether I'm five minutes late or early. If I'm five minutes late at 2:20, they would count me as starting at 2:15. And no, I don't think they should legally loose that time if they are working if they arrived 5 minutes late.

What state is this? If I knew that I could tell you for sure.

Answer 3

i think only if it is to the good of the employee .some people have a time clock so if it is easier to keep track to the minute .... depends if it is small business or corporate though i would think

Answer 4

Each state is a little different about things like this. In Washington I think it is the closest 10th of an hour end to end. Call the employment security office in your area, they should be able to find the answer for you/

Answer 5

I guess much would depend on the terms and conditions of employment. In my line of work, that would not really matter that much, you'd get a 2 full days worth of hours worked, but in other scenarios it may be different.