No proof that employees lost compensation as a result of the policies, state court concluded
Two policies used by See's Candy shops to calculate employee work time are lawful, the California Court of Appeal ruled. The policies in question were a rounding policy, which calculates time clock punches to the nearest 10th of an hour, and a grace-period policy, which permits employees to clock in 10 minutes before and after a shift. Neither policy violates state wage and hour laws, the court held.
Pamela Silva filed an action against See's Candy, her former employer, alleging that the use of the two policies results in employees failing to receive all the compensation due them under wage and hour laws. See's Candy moved for summary judgment on the claims, seeking a dismissal before trial.
According to its motion, See's Candy uses a timekeeping software system to record its employee work hours. Employees are required to punch into the system at the beginning and end of their shifts, as well as for lunch breaks. A punch shows the actual time (to the minute) when the employee clocked into the system. See's Candy calculates an employee's pay based on the punch times, subject to adjustment under its rounding and grace-period policies.
Under the rounding policy, in and out punches are rounded (up or down) to record the time based on the nearest tenth of an hour (every six minutes beginning with the hour mark). The time punches themselves are rounded to the nearest...
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