Posted on 26-Sep-08 by The Timekeeper

In a recent survey conducted by ELT (a provider of online compliance training) 60% of respondents said either they know for a fact their employees aren’t accurately reporting their hours worked, or they aren’t sure if employees’ reported hours are accurate.

OK, maybe I’m dense, but I just don’t get this. There are so many reliable and affordable solutions available nowadays — everything from traditional employee punch clocks with the good old time cards, through PC-based or web-based software, or badge-swipe terminals, all the way up to state-of-the-art biometric time and attendance systems that pretty much totally shut down sneaky stuff like buddy punching.

So what is the excuse of these companies that either are already sure their employees are not accurately recording their time, or that don’t know one way or the other? Fer cryin’ out loud, you can get commercial PC-punch systems for less than $100! No, I’m sorry, but there’s no reason on earth for businesses in this day and age to be unsure whether their employees are (however inadvertently) setting the company up for fines and penalties from the DOL.

Meanwhile, in another ELT survey, over half the respondents said they provide harassment and discrimination training to their workforces (which is good), while less than one quarter reported giving any kind of wage and hour training to employees (not so good). Sheesh.

Maybe they just haven’t heard: there are now more wage and hour class action lawsuits than class actions arising from all other forms of discrimination combined. And from what I hear, plaintiffs’ attorneys are just getting warmed up.

With some possible-exceptions, I think the majority of wage and hour cases arise more out of ignorance than malice. Managers, supervisors and the rank-and-file often don’t know the applicable laws — at least, not until the DOL inspectors show up at the gates.

So how about you? How do you record your employees’ time? Are you confident the hours they’ve reported are accurate? When was the last time your managers and supervisors (or you, yourself) got training on the applicable provisions of wage and hour law?

Bottom line, do you think you’re ready to face down a DOL wage and hour audit?

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