What to Know About Automatics Deductions for Meal Breaks

Unsurprisingly, the incredible rise of employment lawsuits relating to alleged wage and hour infractions has led businesses to audit all timekeeping policies. This is a great practice, as you can never be too careful when it comes to paying employees fairly. However, it seems that some organizations have gone too far, especially when it comes to abandoning automatic deductions for meal breaks.

Auto-deduct policies for meal breaks are when an organization uses its time clock system to automatically subtract time from an employee’s timesheet that correspond with a meal period during which the employee will not be performing any work duties. Auto-deductions are completely lawful under the FLSA, and makes life easier for employees, as they do not have to punch the clock before and after having lunch, and for HR and Payroll, as they avoid hassle with fixing missed punches. It is also a helpful policy for departments or employees that lack convenient access to a time clock device.

Conversely, there are environments that might not benefit from auto-deductions. For groups of employees that are prone to situations where they must “drop everything” and return to work, the time spent overriding the automatic deductions might be more than fixing missed punches. Before implementing this policy, you will have to balance the advantages and disadvantages based on your unique work environment. You might want to start with a trial period that uses this practice for a select department.

The key for organizations following the practice of automatic deductions is to understand the law and minimize compliance risk. First and foremost, a clearly written policy on timekeeping procedures should be distributed to all employees. As part of this communication, highlight a quick and easy procedure for employees to report missed and interrupted meal breaks. Next, train managers on the company policy, FLSA requirements, and the ramifications of negligent and willful violations. Finally, review that managers consistently and accurately correct timesheets after missed meal breaks are reported.

The critical points here are the communication between employee and manager of a missed or interrupted break and the quick rectification of the unwarranted deduction. Based on dealings with users of our time clock systems, the key is to make the process as transparent and simplified as possible. Ask your software vendor to help streamline the process by allowing employees to send messages to managers at a time clock device or kiosk. At these device locations, It also helps to post visible signage about timekeeping policies.