Time and Attendance Recordkeeping
Time and attendance recordkeeping is the documentation, and retention of those documents, of the hours and days employees worked. It is specific to nonexempt employees to ensure they are paid appropriately.
What is time and attendance recordkeeping?
Time and attendance recordkeeping is mandated by the Department of Labor (DOL) to ensure nonexempt employees are accurately paid for all hours and days worked. This includes tracking not only their regular rate of pay but also that all overtime hours are captured and paid at 1.5 times their regular pay rate. The DOL requires that all time and attendance records are retained for 2 years and paystubs for 3 years. However, various states may have longer retention requirements — California, for example, allows a look back as long as 4 years. Records must include:
- The employee’s legal name, date of birth, sex, and social security number
- Their physical address, including their zip code
- The official job title
- When the workweek begins and ends, providing the exact time and day of the week
- How many hours the employee works each day, the delineation of straight-time and overtime hours, and the cumulative total for the workweek
- The employee’s standard hourly pay rate and the basis on which pay is determined (e.g., $12.50/hour, $500/week)
- Any additions (bonuses, vacation or sick time) or deductions (docked time, unpaid absences) from the employee’s wages
- The dates the pay period covers and the total amount of wages paid during that pay period
As the employer, you must also ensure that records are reasonably accessible to any local, state, or federal DOL representative who may request access.
Why is time and attendance recordkeeping important to your business?
The Department of Labor defines the employee’s workweek as all of the time an employee is required to be on:
- The employer’s premises
- Duty (including on-call, meal and break times, and some traveling stipulations)
- A prescribed workplace
This means the employee’s workday may be longer than the employee’s scheduled shift, hours, tour of duty, or production line time. Maintaining accurate time and attendance records is critical for you and your business. Not only do you risk reputational harm for failure to prove you are correctly paying your employees, but a disgruntled employee can file a wage claim with the local, state, or federal department of labor — opening you up to intense scrutiny that extends beyond your time and attendance recordkeeping processes.
What is the history of time and attendance recordkeeping?
While tracking the time people worked is as old as the ages, the first quasi-automated system using a time-clock punch system goes back to the 1880s. This process had a dual purpose: it ensured that employees were working as scheduled, and it gave employees a record of when they were present and working so employers could not cheat them out of earned wages. In the 1990s, time tracking evolved to a more automated process as commercial time clock software made its first appearance in the workforce. Today, time and attendance recordkeeping is much more sophisticated, allowing employees to use their computers, tablets, and even smartphones.
Summary
Time and attendance recordkeeping means documenting the hours and days that nonexempt employees have worked. It is mandated by the Department of Labor (DOL) to ensure nonexempt employees are accurately paid for all hours and days worked.
