Keeping track of your employees’ hours has never been more important, especially since the 2015 enactment of Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA). In order for your company to be FLSA (Fair Labor and Standards Act) and ACA compliant, keeping detailed and accurate records of work hours is essential. In the past, most businesses got away with workers logging their hours on paper or using clunky database systems. Modern cloud-based time management tools allow companies to accurately and reliably track employee time and labor, making it possible to implement flexwork policies and other elements common in modern work situations, while still remaining compliant and maintaining exact records.
As government regulation becomes more stringent, companies need to ensure they have accurate and precise time management systems in place. For example, if an employee works 30 or more hours per week for a large employer, that employee qualifies as full-time – which means that they are legally required to have health insurance. If an employee goes over his or her allotted 29 hours, or accidentally over-punches several times, government penalties can apply if the employee’s work status isn’t updated to full-time or the error isn’t corrected. Ensuring your employees’ time cards are accurate is not only ideal but necessary, in order to avoid legal trouble. Cloud-based systems can record an employee’s time more accurately than a pen and paper system, especially when an employee is working remotely and doesn’t have access to a time clock. On the cloud, standard mobile devices and cell phones can be used to track time worked, location, and even verify identity via biometrics. Numbers, dates and times often get shifted around or misplaced, by mistake or dishonesty, when an employee maintains sole control of his or her paper time card. These solutions solve the problems of buddy punching, ghost punching, and other forms of time fraud.
Keeping accurate time card records is also essential to FLSAcompliance. For example, if a “non-exempt” employee works overtime, that worker is entitled to overtime compensation. If an employee believes that she or he was not adequately compensated for overtime work, the company can be held liable. In order to avoid lawsuits, companies should consider investing in adaptable and easy-to-use time tracking software and devices.
Because a large portion of the world’s workforce is remote or works outside of traditional hours, reliable time management is vital – pen and paper just doesn’t cut it anymore. Making the switch to a cloud-based time and labor management systems isn’t just more convenient for workers and employers, it pays off in the long run by improving compliance, reducing legal risk, and eliminating time fraud.