Accurate time records aren’t just about making sure employees are paid correctly—they’re the backbone of wage and hour compliance. Every punch in and punch out creates a paper trail regulators depend on when evaluating whether a business is following labor laws. The Department of Labor and state agencies routinely request timekeeping data during audits and investigations, and the smallest discrepancies can quickly become evidence of noncompliance. What may feel like a harmless shortcut, such as rounding hours or skipping a missed break, can open the door to costly penalties, back pay claims, or even class-action lawsuits. In other words, precise timekeeping isn’t optional—it’s protection for both the business and its employees.

Where Businesses Slip:

  • Estimating or rounding hours: Letting employees guess or “ballpark” their time creates inaccuracies that add up quickly. Even a few minutes a day across a workforce can mean thousands in unpaid wages over time.

  • Missed breaks: Federal and state laws often require strict meal and rest break tracking. If records don’t show those breaks, agencies may assume they weren’t taken—even if employees say otherwise.

  • Rubber-stamp approvals: When managers approve timesheets without careful review, they may overlook missing punches, unauthorized overtime, or repeated errors. These missed details can come back as major compliance headaches.

Better Practices:

  • Daily entries: Encourage employees to log their hours each day, not at the end of the week. This cuts down on memory lapses and helps ensure every break, start time, and end time is recorded accurately.

  • Quarterly audits: Build a habit of reviewing time records on a regular schedule. By auditing every few months, you can catch recurring mistakes early, rather than waiting for a regulator—or an employee complaint—to surface them.

  • Manager training: Supervisors should be trained not just to approve time, but to recognize patterns. Multiple missed meal breaks, excessive rounding, or frequent overtime can all signal risks that need attention.

How to Make It Stick:

  • Consistency across teams: Policies should be applied the same way in every department and location. Inconsistent rules create confusion for employees and open the door for claims of unfair treatment.

  • Firm deadlines: Clear submission and approval deadlines keep payroll on track and prevent last-minute mistakes. Deadlines also give managers time to review entries before they become final.

  • Exception reports: Modern timekeeping systems often include tools that flag irregularities. Use them to spot missing breaks, unapproved overtime, or incomplete records before they escalate into compliance issues.

Don’t wait for an audit to test your system. Pull a random sample of last month’s timesheets and review them with a critical eye. You may uncover small but consistent issues—like missed punches or repeated rounding—that can be corrected now, long before they put your business at risk.