having hours changed

I am a manager in a fast food restaurant. I am required to clock in 15 minutes before each shift.

I recently ran time punch summaries for myself and other employees and discovered that when we actually clocked in at 3:45 a.m. our time was changed to 4:00 a.m. Also, an employee that is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. always gets there by 7:45 and is asked to clock in early as that is considered our school rush and she is needed. Her hours have been changed to 8:00 a.m

I brought this to the attention of our area supervisor who went on the computer and found out that our store manager is the one changing the times. She has promised that she will talk to owner about this, but it has been 4 weeks and nothing has been done.

Since that time, I have went back to August and ran time punches through October that show every day hours that have been changed.

I need to know what I can do about this to ensure that me and other employees will be paid for services rendered.

Thank you

It would have been easier to answer if you had provided your state. Not knowing where you are located, the best advice I can give you is to contact the DOL of your state and file a complaint of unpaid wages.

I'm sorry about not saying what state it is in. It is in Paragould, AR. I don't know if there
is anything that can be done since AR is a right to work state.

Thank you for answering, any help you can give will be greatly appreciated.

jlkibbe

Right to work means only that you cannot be forced to join a union to get work. What you mean is that Arkansas is an employment at will state. So is every other state in the US with the sole exception of Montana and not even always Montana. So that doesn't mean anything, either.

However, even in an employment at will state you cannot legally be fired for complaining to the appropriate regulatory agency about illegal practices. It is illegal NOT to pay you for time that you are required to be there. If you VOLUNTARILY were coming in 15 minutes early you would still have to be paid if you were working, but they could also tell you not to come in early and discipline you for doing so. But since you are REQUIRED to come in 15 minutes early, you MUST be paid for that time. What's more, if this puts you into an overtime situation (over 40 hours a week) they are required to pay time and a half for anything over 40 hours, as well.

I would make one more attempt to straighten this out internally and then go ahead and contact the state DOL.

BTW, the above assumes that you are paid on an hourly basis. If you are an exempt employee, that's a whole different ball of wax.