Can an employer not pay me for partial hours worked when I need to stay late due to my relief help being late?

Federal law allows an employer to calculate hours worked on 15 minute increments, and to round up or round down within those increments. In other words, they would round minutes 1-7 down to zero, while rounding minutes 8-14 up to 15 minutes. So if an employee works 6 hours and 4 minutes, they would get paid for 6 hours. If an employee works 6 hours and 11 minutes, they would get paid for 6 hours and 15 minutes.

The first question is whether your employer has a policy of paying in 15 minute increments or not. If the employer otherwise pays people for the exact number of hours and minutes worked, then the employer cannot choose to not pay you in that manner when you work over your normal quitting time.

If the employer does have a policy of paying in 15 minute increments, then it would be correct if it round down when you work 1-7 minutes (you suggest 7 in your question), but the employer also has to equally round up for minutes 8-14.

Also, if the employer has to round up, and those extra 15 minutes put you over 40 hours for the week, they must be paid a time and a half as overtime.

posted by Scott Leah  |  Apr 25, 2017 07:55 AM [EST]