Break, and are required to “clock in” and clock out” for the lunch break. If the employee. Clocks back in twenty-one (21) minutes or longer, after punch out, the meal break will. Extend to the exact time the employee punches back in. Round all clock-in and clock-out times to favor the employee. In this case. And 1 in 4 employers says their payroll software requires timesheet rounding. As with every wage and hour regulation, timesheet rounding isn’t black and white. There are a lot of grey areas and things to watch for when rounding employee time.

The sea of regulation is always churning. New rules and evolving compliance requirements change with the tide. Regulatory waves and stormy legislation can cause disruption. Your timekeeping software can help you sail through without a worry. A Sea Of RegulationThere are plenty of regulations to worry about. The ones you know can be rough going. There are also the ones you don’t know about.As a small business owner, it’s hard to keep up with all the requirements.

Hiring an attorney is expensive. Dedicating staff in a tight-ship environment is not always practical.What’s a small business to do?Timekeeping software that tracks time and attendance in the cloud is your answer.Navigating regulatory compliance should be the last thing you have to worry about. Cloud-based timekeeping software keeps track of compliance for you. Time and attendance regulations can be an automatic part of your workforce management.

With the right timekeeping software, you won’t have to worry about a thing.Here are three ways time and attendance software can help you float through the changing sea of regulation: 1. Maintain Compliance With Time and AttendanceTime and attendance is at the root of regulatory compliance. Most of the rules you need to worry about center on tracking time and payroll.Automated timekeeping software has everything you need to maintain compliance without the worry.The Department of Labor (DOL) prescribes a sea of regulation on time off, breaks and sick leave to name a few. It can be daunting to keep up with it all.

Automated time and attendance will keep track and makes sure your employees are in compliance.For starters, automated time and attendance software can help you maintain accurate records. It tracks employee time and records each transaction in organized reports. This takes care of your first problem, which is accurate recording.Automated timekeeping also takes care of access. Timekeeping solutions like SwipeClock ™ give managers full access to real-time records. Employees also have access to their own records in a secure login so everyone is on the same page.Managers and employees can see progress, track hours, and watch overtime. Reports keep this information handy, and automation ensures accuracy.Importantly, timekeeping software can help you maintain compliance as you go.

Built-in alerts and helpful check lists ensure you are towing the line. Conditional lockouts and intelligent clock restrictions make sure employees don’t stray out of compliance. Makes sure you have the records to prove it. Timekeeping Software Updates For New RegulationsWith timekeeping, all your software maintenance is handled for you. WorkforceHUB is always up to date, so you don’t have to worry about keeping up with new regulations.

SwipeClock is working hard to keep the software current so you don’t have to.Cloud based timekeeping eliminates the need to worry about version control. In the old days, managers needed to worry about which version was running on their machine. In companies where more than one person has access, it was a nightmare to keep track of which version was running on which machine.Cloud-based timekeeping is always up to date with the latest requirements.With cloud-based timekeeping, there’s no need to install anything on your local computers. This also eliminates the need to track hardware and make company-wide updates. You’ll save a lot of time and a lot of worry.Managers and employees access cloud-based timekeeping through a standard browser. There’s no software to install, and nothing to update. Industry-related updates are based on your settings, so updates happen automatically for your selected preferences.As a result, you can rest assured that your timekeeping solution has the latest compliance thresholds built in and up-to-date.

Time And Attendance Historical RecordsAside from typical overtime and compliance standards, one of your biggest threats is an audit.Automated timekeeping tracks your time and attendance for you. It also prepares your period records for import to payroll. As part of this function, automated timekeeping keeps historical records on all time and attendance transactions.Audit-ready reports are at your fingertips. These reports can be used for internal audits to double-check bookkeeping. They can also be used in the event of an employee challenge.Employee challenges to time and attendance records can amount to costly penalties. Employers who lose the most in these challenges are those who keep poor records.

Automated timekeeping software such as WorkforceHUB will maintain accurate records for you.In the event of an employee time and attendance challenge, you’ll have the records to settle any dispute. You’ll also have accurate historical data to help discover problems and make corrections.The same goes for regulatory audits. Automated timekeeping software will have you prepared to handle any questions with accurate reports.

Historical records can help you prove compliance, and can insulate you against second-guessing. They can also help you avoid becoming subject to speculation, which can lead to more complex and lengthy audits. Automated Timekeeping In The CloudWorkforceHUB from SwipeClock is an automated time and attendance solution.

WorkforceHUB features automated timekeeping, intelligent clocking, and accurate record keeping.Together these features help you maintain compliance with day-to-day alerts that keep your employees on course.WorkforceHUB is cloud-based so you never have to worry about version control. There is no software to install, and you are always working on the latest copy. SwipeClock is always updating to make sure you are compliant with the latest regulations.WorkforceHUB will ensure you are ready for your employee challenge. When employees have questions about their time and attendance records, they can access historical data in their own portal. Managers can review historical records, too.

Xcode mac 10.13. Everyone is on the same page and can get to records at any time.In the event of an audit, WorkforceHUB has your back. With compliance built-in and accurate, historical records, preparing for an audit is as simple as running a report.

Whether you call it “rounding” or the “7/8ths rule” or have no word to describe it at all, rounding may be of central concern for employers, both in day-to-day operations and in litigation. Rounding is the practice of adjusting time clock punch times within specific bounds. For example, if your employees punch in for work at 7:57, 8:01, and 8:02, your rounding rules may treat all of those punches as occurring at 8:00 a.m. for payroll purposes.

This practice of rounding employees’ time up or down in increments is permissible under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations. Importantly, though, the FLSA does not require employers to round time! If your system of recording and calculating time worked permits you to track time down to the exact minute, then do it. Paying for actual time worked is always the best practice.

However, for those of you that can’t easily track time down to the exact minute, Section 785.48 of the FLSA’s regulations provides that employers may utilize time clocks that round up or down in increments of up to a quarter hour so long as the clock rounds both ways, occasionally in the company’s favor and occasionally benefitting employees. 29 C.F.R. §785.48(b). Thus, for example, an employee who works a total of 8 hours and 5 minutes would be paid for 8.1 hours, and an employee who works 8 hours and 2 minutes would be paid for 8.0 hours. In other systems, an employee’s starting and ending times are rounded to the nearest 1/10th of an hour. Thus, an employee who clocks in at 7:57 would have her start time rounded up to 8:00, and an employee who starts at 8:02 would have her start time rounded back to 8:00.

Of course, employees who voluntarily clock in and hang out drinking coffee before their regular starting times or who remain after their regular end times chatting with coworkers before clocking out do not have to be paid for those extra periods provided that they do not actually engage in any work. 29 C.F.R. §785.48(a). Of course, if you choose not to pay for those extra periods, this becomes a costly, fact-intensive issue if a claim is made by those employees. Instead, a better approach is to pay for the time recorded and counsel your employees on the proper procedures for clocking in or out.

If you do use rounding, part of your periodic internal and external wage and hour audits should include at least a sampling of time records that you maintain to determine whether it appears that the rounding did occasionally benefit both the company and the employees or, better yet, discussing the algorithm used by any automated time system to determine the rounding method used.

In my next post, I’ll discuss some of the areas of potential risk in rounding and how you can best avoid them.