Time Keeping System, is it Really Necessary?

The answer to this question is a big YES.  Almost all businesses will have hourly wage workers; especially restaurants, doctor’s offices, banks, etc. If you think your business does not have any hourly wage workers, think again, because misclassifying an employee can cost your business dearly.

Wage and hour claims account for half of the potential claims an employee may bring, and these claims are easy to defend against if the business utilizes an automated or computerized time keeping system.  Automated time keeping systems are the most efficient and economical way of defending against a lawsuit for claims such as missed meal breaks, minimum wage, overtime, double time and reporting time pay.

A time keeping system will create documentation to show the hours that employees worked and can be streamlined with your payroll system to calculate wages employees have earned.  Although rounding time to the nearest tenth or quarter hour has been a common practice, such practices are increasingly being called into question by California courts.  An automated time keeping system that records and compensates the exact time worked will eliminate the need to round hours and reduce any potential complications in pay.  In comparison, using handwritten time cards requires separate calculation of the hours employees have worked and any calculation errors could cost your business thousands of dollars in an audit by a state agency or in a case by brought by a disgruntled employee.