Let’s talk about some­thing that sounds minor—but can turn into a major wage-and-hour issue for employ­ers: time rounding.

You’ve prob­a­bly seen it in action. An employ­ee clocks in at 8:56 a.m., but the sys­tem rounds it to 9:00 a.m. Or some­one clocks out at 5:04 p.m., but it’s record­ed as 5:00 p.m. Seems harm­less, right? Maybe even a help­ful admin­is­tra­tive shortcut.

But under fed­er­al and state wage laws, these small adjust­ments can add up fast—and lead to seri­ous legal expo­sure. Both the Fair Labor Stan­dards Act (FLSA) and West Virginia’s wage laws have rules (and some gray areas) when it comes to round­ing employ­ee time.

So let’s unpack the legal frame­work around time round­ing: what’s allowed, what’s risky, and how employ­ers and employ­ees can pro­tect themselves.

Con­tin­ue read­ing Time Round­ing and Wage Claims: When Do Small Time Adjust­ments Become Big Legal Prob­lems? →