Expert: Shirley McAllister, CPP, PHR - 3/16/2010

Question
Our payroll has a 10 minute before and a 10 minute after clocking in and out policy. My question is, when you clock out anytime after your shift ends, does the company have to pay you for that, even with the 10 min policy? Or do they have to start paying after the 10 mins?  Also, If you clock out early, can they round up or down on clock out? Thanks.

Answer
The company has a 10 minute policy. This means they can round up or down to the nearest 10 minutes.

How to round to the nearest 10
Underline the one's place.
If it is less than 5, round down. if it is 5 or more, round up.  

    5:00 ---------5:10------------5:20

Quitting time is 5PM

You work until 5:04 it rounds to 5:00, you work until 5:06 it rounds to 5:10, you work until 5:14 it rounds to 5:10 you work until 5:16 it rounds to 5:20.

That is how to round to the nearest 10 minutes.

If you clock out early they can use the same formula to round to the nearest 10 minutes. They can also discipline you for not working your full shift if you do not ask permission to leave early.



Shirley