Can My Employer Round My Time-Clock Minutes? — In Plain Words
This page is general information only. It is not legal advice.
What this page covers
This page covers what one federal regulation says about time clocks and about rounding starting and stopping times. It is based on one regulation section only: 29 CFR § 785.48, “Use of time clocks.”
This page does not decide any one person's case. It prints what that regulation states, in plain words, and it does not promise any reader a result.
Cross-reference, in plain text only: This program also has a built page titled “Can My Employer Make Me Work Off the Clock? — In Plain Words.” That page covers a different question — work done outside recorded time. This page covers recorded time being rounded. The two questions are different.
Clock records and actual hours worked
Time clocks are not required.
Where time clocks are used, employees who voluntarily come in before their regular starting time or remain after their closing time do not have to be paid for those periods, provided they do not engage in any work. Their early or late clock punching may be disregarded.
Minor differences between clock records and actual hours worked cannot ordinarily be avoided. But major discrepancies should be discouraged, since they raise a doubt as to the accuracy of the records of the hours actually worked.
The rounding rule, as the regulation states it
In some industries, particularly where time clocks are used, the practice for many years has been recording employees' starting time and stopping time to the nearest 5 minutes, or to the nearest one-tenth or quarter of an hour.
The regulation states the reason this works: the arrangement presumably averages out so that employees are fully compensated for all the time they actually work.
For enforcement purposes, this practice is accepted — provided it is used in such a manner that it will not result, over a period of time, in failure to compensate employees properly for all the time they have actually worked.
That condition is the heart of the rule. Rounding is accepted only while, over a period of time, it averages out and employees are still properly paid for all the time they actually worked.
Worked arithmetic — not a rule in the regulation
People sometimes call this the “7-minute rule.” That name is NOT in the regulation. It is just the arithmetic of rounding to the nearest quarter hour (15 minutes), which the regulation allows: the halfway point of 15 minutes falls between 7 and 8 minutes. So an offset of 0 to 7 minutes rounds down to the quarter hour, and an offset of 8 to 14 minutes rounds up to the next quarter hour.
Worked examples, rounding to the nearest 15 minutes:
- Punch in at 8:07 → recorded as 8:00. (7 minutes rounds down.)
- Punch in at 8:08 → recorded as 8:15. (8 minutes rounds up.)
- Punch out at 4:50 → recorded as 4:45. (5 minutes past the quarter hour at 4:45 rounds down.)
- Punch out at 4:52 → recorded as 4:45. (7 minutes past the quarter hour at 4:45 rounds down.)
- Punch out at 4:53 → recorded as 5:00. (8 minutes past the quarter hour at 4:45 rounds up.)
Arithmetic is only the mechanics. The regulation's condition still governs: used over a period of time, rounding must not result in employees not being properly paid for all the time they actually worked.
Federal rule only
This page states the federal regulation only. State rules are not covered on this page.
Only the employer, the Department of Labor, or a court can decide a real case.
Sources
Source used for this page:
- 29 CFR § 785.48, “Use of time clocks,” Title 29, Part 785, on eCFR: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-785.48
Checked November 2, 2026.
Why this page is short: the federal rule on this question is one short regulation section — two paragraphs. This page prints what those two paragraphs state, plus the one labeled worked-arithmetic box above, and it adds nothing from outside the regulation.
This page is general information only. It is not legal advice.