When working an hourly job, it’s important to always clock in and out at the right times to ensure you get paid for your entire shift. There’s nothing worse than forgetting, and then suddenly realizing that your first half hour on the job won’t be compensated. But along with tracking the beginning and end of your day, your employer will also ask you to meticulously track your breaks. And as one clever baker found out, the punch system can sometimes be utilized to get even more than 30 minutes off, if you just know what you’re doing… Below, you’ll find the full story that this mischievous former baker recently shared on the Malicious Compliance subreddit.
After being reprimanded for unintentionally taking too long of a break, this baker started investigating exactly how the punch system worked
Image credits: mr.newhaven (not the actual photo)
And they were pleased to find out that they could utilize the system to their advantage
Image credits: Tima Miroshnichenko (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Ok_Ganache2137
The former baker later responded to some questions from readers and provided additional info
Apparently, it’s quite common for timesheets to be rounded to the nearest increment of 15
It seems surprising that this boss did not understand exactly how the system works and that no other employee had ever found themselves in this situation before, but perhaps, when someone had been reprimanded for this in the past, they just did not investigate any further. Maybe they were just more careful and ensured that they never went past 30 minutes again. But as the manager of this business, the woman who called this baker into her office should have understood exactly how the system works, and that occasionally, there probably would be hiccups such as this. By not listening to her employee and demanding that the punch system is law, she was asking for the baker to figure out the system.
As it turns out, it’s a quite common practice for punch systems to round up or down to the nearest 15 minute increment. And it is legal, at least in the United States, according to the Department of Labor. This practice appears to be standard in Canada as well, where one survey from TSheets found that 60% of employees said their bosses round their timesheets to the nearest increment of 15. But there are a few guidelines that are supposed to be followed when it comes to time clock rounding.
Image credits: Bob Clark (not the actual photo)
But legally, this time rounding is not supposed to favor the employer or be used to cut labor costs
According to Hourly, it’s important that this rounding is not used as a means for cutting labor costs in any way or used to favor the employer. “If you choose to round to 15-minute increments, you need to observe the 7-minute rule; for every 1 to 7 minutes that are rounded down, there is a corresponding timeframe of 8 to 14 minutes that are rounded up to the nearest quarter-hour and counted towards total work time,” the team at Hourly explains. And it’s important to keep in mind that, at least in the United States, the maximum rounding increment allowed by the FLSA is 15 minutes. So if your employees show up at 8:10am, you cannot mark their start time as 8:30am.
Hourly also explains that there are several rounding rules that would be compliant with FLSA and DOL regulations, so it is always possible for employers to use a more accurate system than 15-minute increments. 5-minute rounding and rounding to 1/10th of an hour (or every 6 minutes) are also common methods to use. And while it’s understandable for employers to make sure that their workers are actually working when they are supposed to, it’s also important that they comply with lunch break laws and regulations.
Carlos Bernal wrote an article for Accu-Time explaining the easiest ways for employers to stay compliant with lunch break laws, and he notes that there are a few types of employees who can make it tricky for employers: those who try to punch out for lunch at an unscheduled time, those who try to punch in early from lunch without taking the full half hour, those who try to punch in late from lunch to take longer than their half hour. Now, in cases like this one on Reddit, it seems like the baker was just utilizing the system the best way they knew how. But technically his employer probably would not have been a fan of this if they noticed.
Image credits: Visual Karsa (not the actual photo)
Employers should be focusing more energy on how well their workers do their jobs than nitpicking over 1 tiny minute
“For the employees trying to return late from lunch, the time clock display can be configured to direct them to see their manager in order to punch in,” Bernal recommends. “This not only cuts down on extended lunches, but also ensures that workers don’t get paid for time they were on lunch when they should’ve been working.”
At the end of the day, the important thing is that all employees get their jobs done and take appropriate breaks when necessary. What’s a few minutes here and there right? And as this employee noted themself on Reddit, they would have never tried to find a loophole in the system if their boss had not assured them that the punch system is law. After all, they were just complying with company policy! (With only a tad bit of malice included…) We would love to hear your thoughts on this situation below, pandas. Have you ever worked somewhere with a system like this? Then if you’re interested in checking out another Bored Panda article featuring an employee who maliciously complied to clocking in and out rules at work, look no further than right here!
Image credits: Pavel Danilyuk (not the actual photo)
Many readers applauded the baker for their malicious compliance, and some even shared similar ways they’ve beat the system at work
The post "The Time Reported By The Punch System Is Law": Baker Maliciously Complies To Boss' Rules To Get Even Longer Breaks first appeared on Bored Panda.
from Bored Panda https://ift.tt/kAxHNb9
