The Law On Being Late To Work

[Tounga]

i live and work in los angeles california. my hours are from 9am to 6pm.
i'm usually on time but there has been more than a few occasions that i have arrived a few minutes after 9am. if i do arrive late to work it is never more than 5 miutes. my co-workers hardly ever arrive on time and they usually arrive to work about 10 to 15 minutes after 9. my boss has seemed to single me out and has given me warnings that if i'm a minute over she's gonna fire me. which doesn't seem fair to me compared to my co-workers. i am now arriving to work 5 to 10 minutes early. i know for a fact that my co-workers have not been talked to regarding their tardiness and are still arriving after 9am. I heard from a friend that it is the law that employees have a 7 minute window to get to work. is that true? is there such a law?

 

[cbg]

Not true. On time is on time. If you are due in at 9:00, that does not mean 9:07 or even 9:01.

 

[gobonas99]

A good rule of thumb to follow, especially in the professional world (and in your personal life as well), is:

Early is On Time.
On Time is Late.
And Late is Unacceptable!


It has always worked for me.

-Christina

 

[cbg]

It occurred to me what your friend is probably thinking about.

A number of companies use a "rounding" method for payroll purposes. An employee who is within 7 minutes either way of being on time is considered to have been on time. If they are more than 7 minutes early, they are paid for the extra quarter hour. If they are more than 7 minutes late, they are docked for the extra quarter hour. It is legal under the FLSA as long as they use it in both directions; early employees get paid more as well as late employees being paid less. However, it is company policy to do this, NOT law.

 

[Beth3]

But what cbg is referring to is ONLY for payroll purposes - it prevents employers from the tedious and time consuming job of having to calculate payroll for each employee to the exact minute. It has nothing to do with your employer's attendance policy and a work rule that employees report to work on time.

In other words, you may be paid for the time if you're a couple of minutes late but your employer can still discipline and even discharge you for it.