What is Time Clock Punch Rounding

Written by Edward Wajer | Nov 10, 2017 12:00:00 AM

Time clock punch rounding is the rounding of time clock punches to make payroll calculations simpler. Punch rounding can benefit employees, granting them a grace period when starting or ending work, but be aware that some employees may try to game the system to take advantage of employers.

Here are some situations

Your employees arrive at work early and punch in before their shift. They spend that time drinking coffee and talking to each other, waiting for their shift to begin. Or, they punch out after sitting around talking amongst one another after their shift ends.
You have several employees who need to punch in and/or out at the same time. This may take more than a minute for all of them to punch in or out for the day. As a result, some of them end up punching in or out late.

Regardless of the situation, once an employee punches in, that time is considered work time. This means that, legally, you must pay employees for that time. So, what solutions exist to remedy this situation?

Punch Rounding

Punch rounding may be an ample solution for these situations.

Federal law imposes restrictions on rounding an employee’s time. Rounding is allowed only if the following criteria are met:

The rounding must work both in the employer and employee's favor. You can’t decide to only round when it benefits the employer.
You cannot round in increments greater than 15 minutes.
The rounding must be applied so that the employee is still fully paid for all hours he or she actually worked. If your employees are clocking in 10 minutes before a scheduled shift and actually start working early, you cannot round away that work time, even though it occurred before the scheduled shift's start time.

Note: You should check with your attorney to see if your state has additional rules regarding rounding. If there is a difference between federal and state law, then the law that favors the employee is the one that must be obeyed.

The most standard amounts of rounding are the following.

Quarter-hour rounding (15 minutes): This is sometimes called the 7/8 rule. The 15 minutes is split so it is 7 ½ minutes before the quarter hour to 7 ½ minutes after the quarter hour, and all the punches are on 15-minute increments. So, if an employee punches in between 7:53 and 8:07, it will record the punch as 8:00. If he or she punches in at 8:08, then it is rounded up to 8:15.

Rounding by the 1/10 of an hour (six minute): The 1/10 of an hour is six minutes. The six minutes are split, so it is three minutes before the 1/10 of an hour to three minutes after the 1/10 hour, so all the punches are tagged on six-minute increments. So, if an employee punches in between 7:57 and 8:03, it will record the punch as 8:00. If they punch in at 8:04, then it is rounded to 8:06.

Rounding by five minutes: The five minutes is split so it is 2 ½ minutes before the five-minute increment to 2 ½ minutes after the five-minute increment, and the punches are all on five-minute increments. So, if an employee punches in between 7:58 and 8:02, it will record the punch as 8:00. If he or she punches in at 8:03, then it is rounded to 8:05.

"Ninth Circuit Roundly Supports Time Punch Rounding" is an interesting article by Seyfarth Shaw LLP. The plaintiff, from California, was trying to get his company to pay him an extra $15.02 for one minute of work. The Ninth Circuit Court ruled in the employer’s favor and supported punch rounding. You can read the whole article by clicking on the link above.

How does the OnTheClock Time Clock Help with Punch Rounding?

OnTheClock has a punch rounding option. The administrator can find this on the "Time Clock Settings" page, under the "Basic Settings" tab.

OnTheClock's options for punch rounding are as follows:

0 – There is no punch rounding occurring here, so all punch times are actual times.
6 – This would be rounding by the 1/10 hour or six-minute increment rounding, three minutes before and three minutes after each six-minute increment.
15 – This option is quarter-hour rounding, 7 ½ minutes before and 7 ½ minutes after each quarter of an hour.

The following are examples and the examples are in this format:
Hour: Minutes: Seconds
7:56:59

0 punch rounding gives exact clock-in and -out times.

Six-minute punch rounding works like this:

If an employee punches in at 7:57:00 thru 8:03:00, it rounds it to 8:00.
If an employee punches in at 7:56:59, it rounds to 7:54.
If an employee punches in at 8:03:01, it rounds to 8:06.
All punches are executed in six-minute increments.

15-minute punch rounding works like this:

If an employee punches in at 7:52:30 thru 8:07.30, it rounds to 8:00.
If an employee punches in at 7:52:29, it rounds to 7:45.
If an employee punches in at 8:07:31, it rounds to 8:15.
All punches are executed in 15-minute increments.

Time Clock Punch Rounding Chart

Minute Mark	Six-Minute Rounding	15-Minute Rounding
0	0	0
1	0	0
2	0	0
3	6	0
4	6	0
5	6	0
6	6	0
7	6	0
8	6	15
9	12	15
10	12	15
11	12	15
12	12	15
13	12	15
14	12	15
15	18	15
16	18	15
17	18	15
18	18	15
19	18	15
20	18	15
21	24	15
22	24	15
23	24	30
24	24	30
25	24	30
26	24	30
27	30	30
28	30	30
29	30	30
30	30	30
31	30	30
32	30	30
33	36	30
34	36	30
35	36	30
36	36	30
37	36	30
38	36	45
39	42	45
40	42	45
41	42	45
42	42	45
43	42	45
44	42	45
45	48	45
46	48	45
47	48	45
48	48	45
49	48	45
50	48	45
51	54	45
52	54	45
53	54	60
54	54	60
55	54	60
56	54	60
57	60	60
58	60	60
59	60	60

References:

US DOL (FLSA)

https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs53.htm

https://www.dol.gov/whd/opinion/FLSANA/2008/2008_05_15_07NA_FLSA.pdf

Seyfarth Shaw

https://www.wagehourlitigation.com/defenses/ninth-circuit-supports-rounding/