To all HR professionals,

In our manager's meeting this afternoon, we were told that the owner's wanted to put in the following procedure:

They want all department managers who are exempt to clock in and out on a daily basis. By the way, our company is a privately held company, which is incorporated and located in southern California, which is known to be a very litigious state concerning labor matters. Can anyone speak as to whether it is allowable under state or federal labor law to clock in and out as exempt managers, especially if we are salaried. We are paid on a salary basis and not hourly. If indeed we were paid hourly, then I could see the logic in clocking in and out on a daily basis. Appreciate any expert advice on the matter.

There is nothing wrong with tracking the hours that exempt employees work as long as they are not docking pay because of absences of less than a day or more.

all of our exempt employees are required to log a time in and out daily. it is my understanding this is done from labor law in the event we need to prove an exempt staff member was injured on the job.

Previous jobs required managers to submit weekly sheet stating days worked and days off.

Our exempt employees submit a handwritten form showing any time off and the dates for sick or vacation-time

Nothing wrong that I can think of. It sounds to me like your owner thinks some officers are out playing around instead of working.

I had the same thoughts as Raymond. Sounds like the owners want the officers to do more work and less play.

It is perfectly legal. It's falls under the heading of "condition of employment" which employers have the right to change at anytime. Failure to meet a condition of employment is grounds for corrective action.

I'm exempt and I can see the benefits of having all employees clock in and out. I agree that it should be for all employees.

May be legal, but certainly shows distrust of employees -- I would have a hard time working there (but then I'm basically rebellious anyway).

Folks:

How about making the process less offending and add a security feature at the same time? Electronic access devices (swipe card or proximity card) that an employee must use entering and leaving the building may resolve the issue. You may even program the system to ensure that the employee may only enter the facility through one entrance.

I think that's fine if there's a legitimate security concern and that's what the information is used for. However, if the information regarding when employees are in or out is given to managers so they can keep tabs on them, I feel it still shows a profound lack of trust.

If one's employees are really that bad, then maybe their managers should check up on them (via phone calls, stopping by, or asking others to stop by their desk, etc.) on a case-by-case basis if they suspect a problem. If there really is a problem, then they should be dealt with.

I see no value, however, in the routine tracking of exempt employees. In this day and age, more and more work teams are spread out across the country. I've often had staff working in different locations from me, at one time my entire staff was 1800 miles away. I believe you judge exempt staff by their work product, not by the hours they put in. How many of us, for instance, may spend an hour over the course of the day making silly posts in the Cooler, yet spend much of our commute on our Blackberry and work on work projects on home over the weekend.

A good manager will know who the good and bad performers are on his or her staff.