Company rounding down hours? Nebraska

[ktsomaha]

My wife works in an childcare center, and her employer rounds down their employees hours. Example: My wife is scheduled for a 6 hour shift, from 12 to 6. If she clocks in at 11:57, and clocks out at 6:02. They give her 6 total. Also if she clocks in at 12:02 and out at 6:02 they give her 5.96 hours. Even though she is working the entire time. Is this legal for them to take away hours. On a one week timesheet, they have taken 10 minutes off. I am also told that they do this to all employees. So 10 minute off of 100 employees is many hours of free labor, if you ask me

[robb71]

This doesn't sound like a rounding issue to me. It sounds like the employer is deleting time before/after the shift's start/stop times. If the employer was taking advantage of rounding, your wife's 12:02 start time would have been rounded back to 12:00.

My best guess is that the employer is paying actual time (not rounded time). I agree that she should be paid for all time worked. Is there a company policy against clocking in early? If yes, she could be disciplined for violating the company policy (including termination). Such a policy would not relieve the employer of paying for actual time worked. It would only give leverage in a discipline situation.

I suppose she will need to decide if 10 minutes per week is something that she'd like to ruffle feathers over. I understand that 10 minutes is 10 minutes but let's put this into perspective. If we were talking about 10 hours every week, I'd agree that's a more serious concern than 10 minutes.

I'd suggest that her first steps should include taking this issue to her manager and/or HR. They may be able to provide relief. If she should wish to take this further, she is always welcome to contact Nebraska Workforce Development - Department of Labor (Contact).