Going to cut straight to the chase.
I work as an hourly employee in a school. Our contract times are 8:30-3:30, with a 30 minute unpaid lunch, for a total of 6.5 hours a day.
We are required to clock in and out, and the time clock program that they use utilizes some form of rounding.
Anytime after a 3 is rounded up to the nearest 10 minute, and anytime below a 3 is rounded down to the nearest 10 minutes. Example: if you clock in at 8:23 it is rounded up to 8:30 as your start time, and if you clock out at 3:32, your clock out time is 3:30.
During our first day we met with admin and were “talked to” regarding the time clock situation.
They started off by saying that our contract work hours are clearly stated as 8:30-3:30 but that obviously we need to be where we need to be and set up and ready by 8:30. Obviously I understand this, and therefore all of us are generally in the building by 8:20 and clock in at 8:23.
They also let us know that HR will watching more closely this year to ensure that all hourly staff are not clocking out before 3:30. If we clock out at say 3:34 and it rounds up to 3:40, we are required to leave a note in the time clock explaining what we doing/needed for/why we clocked out late etc.
My confusion and ire about this stems from… well… isn’t this wage theft? If I am in the building and preparing for the day, every day, a minimum of 7 minutes early, but am never allowed to recoup that time at the end of the day… well, that time adds up. It specifically adds up to 21 hours over the course of a 180 day school year, and that’s not counting if someone works over the summer under the same time clock process. Or am I crazy and wrong? Please someone tell me lol