Steffans Legal Files Wage and Hour Class Action on Behalf of Table Talk Pies Employees in Worcester Regarding Time-Rounding Policy
On May 18, 2020, Steffans Legal filed a wage-and-hour class action in Worcester County Superior Court on behalf of current and former employees of Table Talk Pies alleging that Table Talk Pies failed to pay its production employees for all hours worked, in part due to it utilizing an unlawful time-rounding policy. Click here to learn more about time clock rounding policies. Want to learn more about the lawsuit? Fill out the form below or call Steffans Legal at 508-556-9959.
Massachusetts and federal law require employers to compensate hourly employees for all hours worked. Many employers use time clocks to track time worked by hourly employees. Some employers also use a time-rounding policy relative to hours worked where they round employee time to the nearest 5 minutes, tenth, or quarter of an hour. These policies are legal so long as they comply with the following state and federal requirements:
Massachusetts Law: 454 CMR 27.07(3) Recording of Working Time. An employer may round an employee's starting and stopping time to the nearest five minutes, one-tenth, or quarter of an hour provided that this manner of computing working time averages out over a reasonable period of time so that an employee is fully compensated for all the time he or she actually worked.
Federal Law: 29 CFR s 785.48 (b) “Rounding” practices. It has been found that in some industries, particularly where time clocks are used, there has been the practice for many years of recording the employees' starting time and stopping time to the nearest 5 minutes, or to the nearest one-tenth or quarter of an hour. Presumably, this arrangement averages out so that the employees are fully compensated for all the time they actually work. For enforcement purposes this practice of computing working time will be accepted, provided that it is used in such a manner that it will not result, over a period of time, in failure to compensate the employees properly for all the time they have actually worked.
In the case filed in Worcester County Superior Court we allege that Table Talk Pies’s rounding policy failed to fully compensate employees for all time actually worked in violation of state and federal law.
If you are a current or former employee of Table Talk Pies with questions, or you have general questions as to the legality of time-keeping policies, fill out the form below or call us to schedule a free consultation with an employment attorney today.