clocking in problems

little-spender

Hi

Wondering if anyone can help.

My friend is salaried at work. they electromically swipe in and out of work and the time is recorded.

What has been happening is everyday the company is changing the swipe out time to a lesser time so it looks like the person has only been working 8 hours instead of say 9/10 etc. This is happening on a daily basis as the person in general never works 8 hours but always more.

Is there not a European Directive on the amount of time you are allowed to work

Any advice as to why this is happening , all advice welcome.

thanks

maninthestreet

Is this happening to every employee at this company, or just your friend?

Bobl

What the company are doing is illegal. Under the European Working Time Directive all hours worked must be recorded, whether the employee is salaried or on overtime does not come into it. The Working Time Directive limits working to an average of 48 hours over a 17 week period, but employees can opt out if they wish. The point of collecting the time worked is to ensure the company is not breaching the EWTD, that is whay all hours worked must be recorded.

Your friend should approach HR or their Manager to ask why the company is doing this, and ask how it affects the EWTD.

olias

Are you saying the company is getting your friend and her colleagues to 'swipe out' and then go back into the office/site and then carry on working for another hour or two? If so then I suspect that this is breaching employment law and is most certainly breaching health and safety law and is highly dangerous

One of the reasons for swipe systems as well as recording the working hours of individuals, is to record which personnel/staff are present in the office/building/site. If there were an emergency - fire/explosion etc etc, then neither the employer nor the emergency services would be able to confirm who was or was not in the building and confirm they were safe. Indeed, they could well assume from checking records that a person was not present and was therefore 'safe' elswhere as they had 'swiped out', when in fact they may be laying injured in the building

I suggest that your colleague speaks to either a union rep/shop steward or failing that the HR manager and point this out. If I were them, I would refuse and continue to 'swipe out' when I finished work and actually left the building and encourage their colleagues to do the same.

Olias

Bobl

OLias - you are missing the point; the company is electronically reducing the hours after the fact to reflect only contractual hours, whilst not illegal (the EWTD is not law), it does breach the EWTD rules.

olias

That's not how I read it, the OP needs to clarify. Are you stating you believe the company is electronically altering the clocking off times on the computer en-masse after the fact? How does the OP know this? Do they have access to the records. If they are altering it electronically, then as well as EWTD issues, there are other implications, for example in disciplinary matters an employee would not be able to evidence their presence at a certain time if the employer is falsely altering it on their systems.

Olias

olias

Hang on, I'm confused now - are you and the OP, little-spender, one and the same?

Olias

Bobl

Your friend should ask for a print out of her times over the past month, and then query them.

As an aside, why is your friend bothered? It does not affect pay, and only really matters if they intend not to breach the EWTD. I regularly work 60+ hours but as I have opted out it is not a problem.

maninthestreet

Whoever the employer is, they are committing a criminal offence - they are creating a false instrument with the intent to deceive.