No Pay before 9:00 a.m.

My wife works for a Dr. that opens for business at 9:00am. She is required to be there by 8:50 and is allowed to punch in. Even though they are required to be there at that time,and allowed to punch the clock,they are not paid for that extra 10 min.'s a day. I realize that the 10 min's is trivial,but my argument is that that it isn't legal. She is of the belief that it is. I would appreciate your input on this matter. Thank you.

If she were to stay past 5:00 till 5:10, would she be paid for that ten minutes? It makes a (slight) difference to the answer.

Yes ,she is paid for all time after 5......that has never been an issue.

"I realize that the 10 min's is trivial"

Yeah, it's trivial.

Compared to how monumental losing her job would be.

"but my argument is that that it isn't legal"

Doesn't make a difference whether it is or it isnt.

She would be foolish to make an issue of something that trivial.

How about this as an alternative.

She comes in exactly at 9 AM and it takes her 10 minutes to get herself in order to where she is actually productive. It takes everybody about 10 minutes from the time they get to work before they actually get to work-ING. Would you rather she be docked for the 10 minutes she's not productive?

You are technically right, but it's quite unlikely that anything will come of it, and here's why;

Rounding to the nearest quarter hour is legal as long as it is done consistantly and is not always done in favor of the employer. In this case, TECHNICALLY 8:45 would be the closer quarter hour so to be ABSOLUTELY legal she should be paid from 8:45. However, we are not talking about ten minutes now; we are talking about three minutes since if she came in at 8:53 instead of 8:50, 9:00 would be the closer quarter hour. If she is being paid for all the time after 5:00 and the employer is three minutes from legal at the other end, I think it is quite unlikely that the employer would get more than a slap on the wrist. If that. Particularly if you are talking literally when you say she gets paid for ALL time time after 5:00, meaning that if she works till 5:05 she gets paid the extra 5 minutes, since the nearest quarter hour would still be 5:00 until 5:08.

Thank you cbg. She isn't even bothered by it so there is no issue to be made. Basicly I was telling her it wasn't right,but it's her job and like I said...she never had intention of making an issue of it....we were just having a discussion about the no pay before 9 thing

 Ease up Jack,my wife and I were just having a discussion. She isn't bothered by it and has no intentions of doing anything about it. I just felt it wasnt right...that's all. cbg answered my question from the more legal stand'point I was seeking......not just a personal opinion.