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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
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    3

    Default How to Stop Time Card Fraud

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

    I work at a state job. The place I am employed at falls under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security and our salaries are paid with money from the Federal and State governments.

    Employees are constantly punching the time cards for other employees who are chronically late, often as late as 15 minutes or more. They punch the late people in on time despite their not being on the premises yet. These late people are a relief for the offgoing shift, meaning people are forced to hold over and thus do overtime.
    But...HR doesn't pay them OT because the time cards of those they held over for were punched in (by others) on time.
    When HR is informed of what's truly going on, they say they'll investigate it but never do, and so it continues.

    Would it be legal to videotape (without audio) the people who punch multiple time cards for those who are constantly late in order to put a stop to this?
    How can this be properly dealt with? Thanks for any advice.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    19,901

    Default Re: Time Card Fraud

    Who are you in this? If you're just another employee, it almost certainly WOULD be illegal. You should bring your issues to HR or management.

    The "hold over" employees should accurately reflect their own time. If they are non-exempt they must be paid overtime. You can report that to the DOL if you are one so affected.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
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    3

    Default Re: Time Card Fraud

    I am one of the "hold over" employees.
    And as I said aboveb when HR is contacted they act surprised and they say that it'll be taken care of, but it continues. I'd suspect from that that HR is complicit in it.
    That's why I asked above if it would be legal to videotape WITHOUT AUDIO in order to collect proof that this is rampant among certain employees, and then take that proof to the proper authorities, whoever they may be.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    19,901

    Default Re: Time Card Fraud

    And I told you, it is almost certainly improper. The EMPLOYER can do so, you can not.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Posts
    8,238

    Default Re: Time Card Fraud

    Quote Quoting flyingron
    View Post
    And I told you, it is almost certainly improper. The EMPLOYER can do so, you can not.
    I’m not sure what you mean by “improper.” Video only recording (without capturing audio) is not illegal if the video recording is done any place that the photographer has a legal right to stand and there is no law that prohibits photographing in that particular place. No law makes it illegal to photograph in all places of employment. Rather, there are only a relatively few places of employment that would have such a restriction imposed by law. Perhaps the OPs place of employment might be one such place since he does mention working in place that is somehow related to Homeland Security. But a lot more would need to be known to figure out if this place of employment, and specifically where the time card machines are located, are covered by any such legal restriction.

    It may well be that the rules of the employer would prohibit the employee from video recording in the workplace. In that case, the risk is possibly losing his/her job or facing other sanctions by the employer. The OP would need to check out his/her employers rules on that to determine if the recording would be a problem with this/her employer.

    Bottom line is that it is far from certain that the recording would not be permitted. We’d need a lot more information to determine that.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: Time Card Fraud

    The employees punch in using a time clock mounted to a wall. It can be easily recorded by placing a cell phone on a nearby table with the video camera running. The video would just show the time clock, the wall it's mounted to, and the person punching the cards.
    Neither the employee manual nor the union handbook mention the use of video recorders. Florida state law seems to permit video in places where privacy is not expected provided that the audio is not being captured.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Posts
    629

    Default Re: Time Card Fraud

    If HR/management has already been notified and nothing was done about then there's a chance that even with video recordings of the practice they still might not do anything.

    You will probably get the most action if you push for not getting paid when you have to holdover for someone. As mentioned above try the DOL and also speak to your union rep if you aren't getting paid for you clocked in time.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    1,179

    Default Re: Time Card Fraud

    I agree that you need to go about the complaint based on time you are working over but not getting paid. I am assuming your timecard shows the extra time? Make sure your timecard is correct and keep a separate copy of your time at home. Check your paystubs against the hours you have clocked in. If they are different, bring that to HR/payrolls attention. Let them solve/figure out why you are staying late (because others are not truly there). If they continue to fail to pay you, file a wage claim with the federal government (since Florida doesnt' have a state DOL but the feds might only be concerned with minimum wage plus any overtime for all hours worked).

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    1,142

    Default Re: Time Card Fraud

    Since you are a state employee, we assume, not a contract employee, you have another layer of HR to go to. If your departmental HR does not respond to the whole complaint and seems to be in agreement with the way things are being done, you need, if you are a state employee, to take this up to the state of FL department of personnel, human resources, whatever. That is the department over your department that determines state wage policy and processes. You need to let them get a shot at fixing this situation, since after all they set all policy and payroll procedures for the state employees in every department and will want to have some input about how one of their departments is doing things.

    If you are not a state employee, are employed by a contractor for the state, that's a different situation. Or, if you do go to state personnel and find yourself ignored, yes then at that point, you can go to the federal Wage and Hour division, based out of Atlanta, that works with Florida Wage and Hour claims. But this will take a while. And I promise you, they will not need cell phone videos or recordings. And frankly, you keep on with this silly insistence on making videos of what you consider to be going on that is wrong, in direct opposition to the two party laws in effect in your state, with everyone telling you this is a mistake and nobody wanting to see such recordings, and you're going to end up getting yourself fired before you ever get any kind of action on any wage claims you might have.

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