Time theft

What counts as time theft?

Time theft counts when the pay record shows more working time than was actually worked, and the difference was knowing, not a mistake. The behavior varies, but the test is the same: was the paid time real?

• Recording an earlier start or a later finish than the real one.
• Taking breaks or lunch longer than the policy allows and not recording it.
• Running personal errands in a company truck during a paid shift.
• Having someone else record time for you (see buddy punching).

What does not count as time theft?

Honest errors, missed punches and unclear rules are not time theft, even when they cost the company money. A foreman who rounds a crew's start time to the nearest quarter hour because the form has no room for minutes made a recording choice, not a theft.

Paid driving between sites

Travel between jobsites during the day is generally hours worked, so a long supply house run is not time theft. See windshield time.

Forgotten punches

A missed clock-out is a records gap. It becomes a problem only when it is used on purpose to claim hours.

Rounding

A neutral rounding rule is a payroll policy. See timesheet rounding.

How do companies tell time theft from a records problem?

Companies tell the two apart by looking for a pattern, not a single entry. One missed punch is noise. The same worker showing the same 15-minute gap every Monday is a pattern worth asking about, with the facts in hand.

A record that carries its own evidence, such as a location reading with a method and a time, gives a manager something to ask about that is not a guess. That is a fairer starting point for a conversation than an accusation.