“My non-exempt employees obviously need to clock in and out but I have a lot of trouble getting them to do it. This means I spend way too much time tracking down and talking with employees to clarify the missed punches. I’m worried I might get a claim for missed or late meal breaks with so many missing punches. How can I get employees to punch in/out?”
My HR Survival Tip
You’re right to be concerned because California applies a lot of pressure on companies to have accurate timekeeping. If you’re having to edit the punch information, you’ve lost the employee’s “signature” proving this was accurate.
Hopefully you have a written policy regarding your timekeeping requirements to prove the employees are breaking a company policy. Because that’s what they are doing and some type of disciplinary action is now in order. The question is… what are you willing to do to ensure your employees are doing what you need?
Always start with a conversation, then graduate up to a written warning. It will be effective with many employees but you may not get 100% compliance so you need to determine your next option. Most companies will go through the written warnings, a final warning, or a performance improvement plan and then move to termination.
Some companies feel they have too much invested in finding and training employees to fire them over timeclock issues. However, remember what it might cost your company if you don’t have accurate punches. You could be audited for 4 years’ worth of timecards and, on top of fines and penalties, would have to pay employees an extra hour of pay (penalty pay) for every single day you can’t prove they took the required meal break on time and for at least 30 minutes. That can add up to a significant amount.
Another form of disciplinary action possible is to lower the employee’s rate of pay for not complying with your policy. Yes, you can both raise and lower an employee’s pay! Definitely don’t jump into this without professional advice because whenever you’re making changes affecting pay, you want the correct documentation and prior notifications.
The basic concept requires creating a policy explaining the process and effective date. Then, when an employee misses a punch, they receive a memo (they must sign) warning a future pay decrease will happen if they get 3 of these memos. If their pay is decreased, the employee must then be compliant for a certain period of time before their pay is returned to the previous level. Or, they might start collecting more memos and have their pay go down even further. Of course, this can only work if your employees are paid above minimum wage so you could lower their pay.
It’s important to your company that non-exempt employees punch in and out every time, every day. If you don’t bother to enforce your timekeeping process, you open your company up to claims you won’t be able to defend. So, what are you doing to ensure compliance?
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