Employees Say Time-Tracking Systems Chip Away at Their Paychecks

Some employees are complaining that employers are using time-tracking systems to reduce their wages, reports the Wall Street Journal . Plaintiffs in federal and state lawsuits against American Airlines, Kroger, Montage Hotels & Resorts, and others allege that those companies are unfairly subtracting fractions of their hourly salaries using time-tracking technology. Their attorneys say thousands of dollars can be siphoned off paychecks because employers are counting breaks that workers never actually get to take, and rounding policies that favor companies. "These people are doing really important jobs, and we're not paying them for the time they're actually working," says University of Oregon School of Law Professor Elizabeth Tippett. Time-tracking systems can calculate employees' pay to the second, and attorney Chris Pace notes employers appreciate features like rounding and automatic time deductions because they help keep labor costs predictable and free managers and employees from having to record each break. He claims a manager installs rounding mechanisms, or programs systems to pay only for the hours of a scheduled shift, "to conform the system to his view of reality." Nine American Airlines employees filed suit in New Jersey federal court claiming their employer's rounding policy "consistently and artificially reduced the total time employees are credited with working," according to court records.