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Auto-Deducting 30 Minutes from Employees for Meal Breaks?
16 May 2023
H.R. Guy's Take on Auto-Deducting for Meal Breaks
I am always a fan of people who try to "own" me on an HR topic... Especially in dealing with payroll and time tracking regulations (one of my professional specialties), and they end up proving my point for me.
Topic:
Validity of auto-deducting 30 minutes from employees for meal periods.
My position:
DO NOT DO IT! If you deduct the time but they did not actually stop working, you are committing Wage Theft. Not a charge you want to face in court ANYWHERE in the country.
The opposition:
You are wrong. It is perfectly fine because if the employee chooses not to clock out and work anyway, then that is on them, not on the employer. Here, check out this link.
First, the provided "source" says "yes, it is legal" (which is technically true), but immediately follows that declaration with "as long as they are actually taking lunch." Then it follows with some generalities on the different State approaches to requiring lunch breaks (which is not required Federally) and finishes with a section on "Why an employer shouldn’t automatically deduct lunch time." So to be clear, this article does NOT present a compelling argument for auto-deducting for meal periods.
Bottom line is that you have to jump through so many hoops to justify and validate the auto-deductions before it is legal, that it is not worth the effort. Just decide how hard you are going to push the topic, set clear expectations, then hold employees accountable for THEIR actions, not put yourself into a position to defend YOURS in court where you will lose 99/100 times.
Thank you for playing. Next topic. 😇
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