Manager tells me that if one of my employees forgets to punch in when returning from lunch, he is not required to pay that employee for the afternoon.
I am the supervisor. I know the employee worked. Please send me a link to the law that proves that just because an employee fails to punch the time clock, he cannot be cheated out of his fair wages for that time.
My manager insists that he has checked this through the company legal counsel and that docking the employee for forgetting to punch in or out is completely legal.
I disagree.
Please help me show my manager that he is breaking the law by docking my employees for forgetting to punch the clock.

Your manager is dead wrong. If the company knows an employee worked, he or she must be paid even if the employer has to estimate the hours. An employee can certainly be disciplined for failing to follow company rules (punching in and out) but their pay cannot be withheld.

I don't think you'll find this specifically in any State or federal wage and hour laws but this question comes up all the time and certainly the federal DOL would take great exception to an employee not being paid when the employer knows he or she worked. If you'd like to contact the DOL to verify what I've told you, their number is 202-693-4650.

Thank you for the quick reply. I have verified this with DOL but my manager gets pretty hostile when you contradict him. I need my job and can't afford any ill will. I feel pretty helpless because I can't seem to stop him from docking my employees as he sees fit.
There must be something written somewhere in the law that will show him he is wrong.
I don't know how to prove to him that he is wrong without jeapordizing my own position.
This really does suck. :(

Try these.
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_785/29CFR785.13.htm
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_785/29CFR785.49.htm