Employer Rounding Time Card Punches to the Nearest Quarter Hour

[Mahther]

My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: Minnesota

I am on time every day, which means punching in between five and zero minutes early every day (not milking the clock, I start working immediately) and this gets rounded up. Clock out time varies depending on the work, so say the work is complete and I clock out at 3:07 they round it to 3:00, but 3:08 would be a 3:15 clock. I'm not the type to manipulate the system, I just want to get honest pay for honest work, and it seems to me that what they are doing is against the law. Am I wrong?

[jk]

rounding is fine as long as they round consistently, including the time before the workday. That would mean if you clock in at 8 til or more, you should get a 1/4 hour pay but if you clock in 7 til or less, you won't.

[cbg]

Actually, they are doing it exactly right.

Rounding is not required, but it is permitted as long as it is done to the nearest quarter hour and regardless of who it favors. Your description of what they are doing is exactly the way they are supposed to do it if they do it.

[Mahther]

This surprises me. I feel like I'm being punished for being punctual. Thank you both for your help!

[Betty3]

Here's the law:
§ 785.48 Use of time clocks.
(b) “Rounding” practices. It has been found that in some industries, particularly where time clocks are used, there has been the practice for many years of recording the employees' starting time and stopping time to the nearest 5 minutes, or to the nearest one-tenth or quarter of an hour. Presumably, this arrangement averages out so that the employees are fully compensated for all the time they actually work. For enforcement purposes this practice of computing working time will be accepted, provided that it is used in such a manner that it will not result, over a period of time, in failure to compensate the employees properly for all the time they have actually worked.