Time and attendance record keeping is considered as an essential workforce management function, especially for hourly-paid and non-exempt workers. Since this is a matter of strict legal compliance and organizations are bound by the FLSA and FMLA regulations, it comes as a huge compulsion upon employers to incorporate effective and accurate time tracking systems to ensure smooth, hassle-free, and accurate timekeeping entries and other correlating functions and procedures.
Automated time and Attendance system is majorly incorporated within the organizational systems to keep track of the hours worked and manage an accurate and error free payroll mechanism. Many organizations do not track time and attendance for exempt employees due to their fixed pay mechanisms, and consider it as a dispensable task.
However, time and attendance system offers certain essential benefits to help the managers and organizations comply with the requisites and keep track of your management patterns as per the FLSA or FMLA rules and regulations, for exempt and non-exempt employees alike. Here’s how an automated time and attendance system ensures better FLSA and FMLA tracking for employers and organizations:
Leave Management
The Unites States’ Fair Labor Standards Act determines the job-protected leave requested by the employee as per the number of hours worked in the 12 month period prior to the requested leave.
So, this becomes essential, in case of the exempt employees, to keep track of their time and to maintain an accurate set so as to ensure a hassle-free leave approval system, and making it convenient to calculate FMLA intermittent leaves.
Time Keeping and Legal Compliance
The United States Fair Labors Standard Act does not make it essential for organizations to keep track of the time and attendance of their exempt employees. However, certain local state laws and regional jurisdictions might require, or bind the organization into certain essential functions that could not be complied with without time and attendance keeping. Hence, it is suggested that the organizations keep up with their time and attendance records for exempt and non-exempt employees alike.
Reducing FMLA Time Tracking Complaints
Employees are eligible to file a complaint against the organization if they think that their FMLA leaves and benefit entitlements have been altered or compromised. This leads to a conflict between the employee and the organization and creates an unpleasant situation.
Most common complaints pertaining to FMLA entitlements include delayed response mechanism to FMLA request, failure in the timely allotment of leave, erroneous calculation of leaves, and making undeclared changes into the employees’ set of perks and benefits. Keeping an on-point and updated system of time and attendance helps resolve issues based on concrete and factual grounds.
Accurate Accrual Mechanism
An automated system of time and attendance ensures a better and accurate accrual system and keeping a fair an updated record of availed leaves and vacations, making it convenient for the organizations to reinstate employee benefits in a fair and accurate manner. In addition to that, it also enables the managers and supervisors to plan a proactive coping mechanism for staffing requirements, especially the peak times of leaves and vacations.
