Timekeeping - May 2015
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Timekeeping
Released May 2015 Download the Full Report here Download the Highlights Page here We undertook this audit because the city’s Integrity Line has received numerous complaints about abuse of time and violation of controls in the city’s automated timekeeping system. We focused our review on policies and practices for capturing, recording, and tracking hours worked across city departments. We also assessed whether controls are in place in the timekeeping system to ensure that work hours recorded are accurate and the city complies with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA establishes rules for overtime, compensatory time, and record keeping requirements for public and private sector employees. |
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City
departments have implemented practices that might not comply with
FLSA. In the first 21 pay periods of 2014, we found:
- Including public safety, non-exempt city employees registered nearly 200,000 unapproved hours beyond their established work hours for which they may need to be paid
- City departments, excluding police and corrections, paid 7,500 overtime hours at the regular hourly rate rather than the time-and-a-half rate required by FLSA
- Non-exempt non-sworn employees’ accrued more than 20,000 hours of compensatory time at straight time instead of the required time-and-a-half
- City staff corrects payroll records in the financial system without also correcting timesheet records, potentially increasing the city’s liability for unpaid time
- Some employees could have stolen time by vandalizing biometric clocks, unplugging time clocks, and punching the clock for other employees