The rounding of time is a process by which an employer does not pay employees for pre-shift work performed after the employee clocks in or post-shift work performed before the employee clocks out, and instead “rounds” the clocked-in time to the scheduled beginning or end of a shift. Employers rounding employee time is very common, but not always lawful. And many people who are affected by time rounding don’t know their rights under the law.
Most often, time rounding occurs for when employers move their employees ‘clock in’ time to the nearest 15 minutes. When employers do this, they don’t pay exactly when an employee clocks in our out. But for this practice to be fair, and legal, the rounded time punches must even out over time. In practice, they rarely do. That is because most employers, even when they round time, demand that their employees start working right at a start time and not leave even a minute early or face penalties. As a result, time rounding schemes usually benefit employers over time, and employees miss out on hard earned wages.
