November 24, 2025
Does the FLSA Require Payment for Every Minute Worked? Rounding Practice Challenged
Let me start by saying the ending to this story has not yet been decided. But the fact that the claim was filed and the judge decided to not dismiss the claim intrigued me. Here’s why.
Courts and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) have told us the FLSA does not require employers to pay for every minute non-exempt employees. The federal regulations explain de minimis amounts of time that may properly go unpaid. The DOL describes it this way.
“[I]nfrequent and insignificant periods of time beyond the scheduled working hours, which cannot as a practical matter be precisely recorded for payroll purposes, may be disregarded. The courts have held that such periods of time are de minimis (insignificant). This rule applies only where there are uncertain and indefinite periods of time involved, a few seconds or minutes in duration, and where the failure to count such time is justified by industrial realities. As noted below, an employer may not arbitrarily fail to count any part, however small, of working time that can be practically ascertained.”
So how many seconds or minutes are de minimis? This case may tell us. The judge recently declined to dismiss this case that alleges an employer’s practice of rounding by tenths of an hour violates the FLSA. For example, if an employee clocks in 1-6 minutes prior to the start of the shift, those minutes are rounded forward, and the employee is paid beginning at the scheduled start time, even if the employee started working within those six minutes. On the flip side, if an employee clocks in up to six (6) minutes after the start time, the system rounds it back to the start time, and the employee is paid despite being up to six minutes late.
Clocking out at the end of the shift works differently and uses three-minute increments. Where an employee clocks out 1-3 minutes early, the system rounds that to the end of the shift and the employee is paid for that time not worked. But where an employee clocks out 4-6 minutes early, there is a .10 reduction of time
recorded and an employees’ pay is reduced accordingly.
The judge wrote, “The question raised by the Complaint is whether an employee should be paid for those 4 minutes, or if [the employer’s] rounding is proper.” You may want to bookmark this case and see how it plays out. A ruling against the employer could have a significant impact on employers at least in this court’s jurisdiction (Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division). In the meantime, talk to your company’s legal counsel. If you use a rounding practice, consider what increment you use. I find six or 15 minutes are common rounding practices. Consider conducting periodic audits under the direction of your legal counsel. What are your average outcomes? Does the rounding up and back generally result in a “wash” such that deductions and overpayments are effectively the same? If the deductions outweigh the overpayments, is it by enough to constitute something more than de minimis periods of time?
