Human Resource Blog

Grace Period

Are employers required to offer a 5-10 minute grace period to employees when clocking in or clocking out for a shift?

There is no law that requires you as an employer to offer a “grace period” to workers.

In fact, in some occupations it would not be practical to do so. In a factory with 200 employees where the manufacturing line ran from 7 am to 3 pm, a single employee who was 10 minutes late could conceivably hold up the line for everyone. That would delay 199 other employees for 10 minutes. It would also result in the employer paying 199 employees for 10 minutes of idle time – that’s more than 33 hours of lost labor.

When some employers say “Be here at 7 am” they mean “Be here no later than 7:10.” But sometimes the employer means “Be here before 7:01 am.” Some employers do this simply because they think being on time is important. There is no way for new employees to know, except to ask.

This may be a generational difference. Baby boomers were taught that work was like a movie…it started at a certain time. If you don’t arrive on time, you were likely to miss something important. Members of the cell phone generation often think that calling to say you will be late, is the same as being on time.

Often the tardiness policy is in the employee handbook. It’s a good idea to put it in writing, to prevent misunderstandings.