As too many businesses are being shoved to the brink by mass litigation seeking millions over “minor” Labor Code violations, we continue to preach prevention. Sweat The Details – Friendly Workplace Practices Audits Before PAGA Comes Calling (January 24, 2025).
It is a rare class action employment case that doesn’t assert management’s sloppy timekeeping practices have caused workers to labor off the clock, outside the recorded time-in or time-out. Five minutes here, ten minutes there would seem no big deal for a single employee, but multiplied by, say, 100 or more on payroll over four or more years, with additional automatic damages, interest and penalties and that business is facing a potential terminating event. Paystub Purgatory – The PAGA Perils of Not Paying Attention (March 14, 2025).
An “old school” employer will commonly counter such a challenge by citing company “rounding” practices, setting the work start or end forward or back to the nearest tenth or even quarter hour. The protocol will still pass muster if “fair and neutral on its face” and used in a way that will not result, over a period of time, “in failure to compensate the employees properly for all the time they have actually worked.” See’s Candy Shops, Inc. v. Superior Court, 210 Cal. App. 4th 889 (2012).
Yet, the days of punching paper time cards and relying on the payroll person to consistently round in a fair and neutral manner are likely numbered. In 2021, the California Supreme Court called such practices into question “given that advances in technology have enabled employers to more easily and more precisely capture time worked by employees.” Donohue v. AMN Services, LLC 11 Cal.5th 58 (2021).
While we cannot endorse any particular digital system, there is a wealth of resources for management’s move to join this trend. See, e.g., The 9 Best Payroll and Timekeeping Software in 2025 (March 10, 2025).
Take-Away:
As an important step to building a company’s best protections against crippling legal challenges, best practice is to bring any “traditional” time card system – handwritten or analog – into the 21st Century mainstream and make sure you include all timekeeping functions that apply to your workforce.
For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin
See also:
- Workplace Roulette – Reducing the Odds of PAGA Purgatory (December 13, 2024)
- Munched for Lunch – No Break for Paying Employee’s Meal Times (September 20, 2024)
- Timekeeping Policy – Fourth Dimension Attention: It’s in the Cards (February 24, 2023)
Tim Bowles
April 18, 2025