Legal Question in Employment Law in Washington
Employee Time Reporting (rounded) clarification
I am an employee who works for a company that contracts my services on a full time basis. There is a contract between the client and my company for which I perform the services. The time keeping is for the company which I directly am an employee but all work is performed on location at the client site. All my time recording is done online but very often the login process times out and I spent upwards of 4 minutes just trying to clock in. If I do not clock in at the appropriate time, the system renders this as ''missing punch'' and requires correction. More than a few times, my boss has not corrected my time or corrects it to what they think is appropriate, rather than actual time worked. Everyday after the shift I clock out online around 5PM but still have my ending reports to drop off and sign in keys and bank which takes varying amounts of time to do. They have made every effort not to pay me for this time because I'm clocked out on their system online. My previous boss would fix each time period correctly but my new one says its too much work for her to ammend this weekly and suggested I just take a longer lunch (which is a violation of their contract with the client). I hope this clarifies.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Employee Time Reporting (rounded) clarification
Yes, this clarifies things nicely, and I wish I'd read both messages before responding to the first. (We don't get the subject lines on our email, so there is no way to tell the two messages are related until we open them.)
It is a bad idea to knowingly act contrary to the contract with the customer. You set yourself up for termination for misconduct that way.
Your employer has set up a timekeeping system that shortchanges the employees. This may be intentional or it may be inadvertent. Either way, technology should not become the excuse to short pay employees. If there are multiple employees in this situation, this will add up!
You may want to have one more talk with your boss. Respectfully acknowledge that she probably didn't choose the software system, and adherence to the law will make extra work for her. Still, the current system does create a legal violation, and a software solution needs to be found. Meanwhile, you have a right to be paid for all hours worked.
If that little talk does no good, go to Dept of Labor & Industries.
I will also note that Washington is an at-will state, but even in an at-will state, you cannot fire someone for exercising their statutory rights. If you have to go to L & I for help, and your employer discharges you for doing so, you may have legal recourse against them.
Good Luck!
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