Time Clock Rounding and the 7-Minute Rule

How quarter-hour, tenth-hour and 5-minute rounding work, why rounding applies per punch, and when it is legal under 29 CFR 785.48.

Actualizado 2026-10-20

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Federal rules let employers round time-clock punches to the nearest 5 minutes, tenth of an hour (6 minutes) or quarter hour (15 minutes), provided the rounding is neutral and does not, over time, fail to pay employees for all the time they work (29 CFR 785.48(b)).

The 7-minute rule

With quarter-hour rounding, a punch 1 to 7 minutes past the quarter rounds down, 8 to 14 minutes rounds up. 8:07 becomes 8:00; 8:08 becomes 8:15. The split is at 7.5 minutes, so it is nothing more than rounding to the nearest quarter hour with the half point going up.

For 6-minute rounding, 3 minutes past is the half point and rounds up. For 5-minute rounding there is no exact half with whole minutes; 2 rounds down, 3 rounds up.

Rounding applies to punches, not totals

Round the in time and the out time, then subtract. Do not compute the exact duration and round that. The difference matters: in 8:07, out 4:52 is 8:45 exact. Rounded punches: 8:00 to 4:45 = 8:45. Same answer here, but in 8:08, out 4:52 gives 8:44 exact versus 8:15 to 4:45 = 8:30 rounded. Rounding the total instead would give 8:45.

The neutrality test

Rounding is lawful only if it works both ways. Always rounding down, or setting the system so clock-ins round up and clock-outs round down, is not neutral and courts have ruled against it. California courts went further in 2022 (Camp v. Home Depot) and held that when an employer can and does record exact time, it must pay for it; rounding is increasingly risky there.

Auditing a rounding policy

Compare rounded totals with exact totals over several pay periods. If the employee consistently loses time the policy fails the test. Our rounding audit tool takes pasted punches and reports the difference per period.

Our implementation

Every calculator on this site rounds per punch with the half point going up, exactly as in the table, and always shows the unrounded total alongside so the effect is visible. The default is no rounding.

State positions

• California: rounding was accepted (See’s Candy, 2012) if neutral, but Camp v. Home Depot (2022) held that an employer that records exact time cannot round it away, and the state Supreme Court is reviewing the issue. Many California employers have stopped rounding.
• Oregon and Washington: follow the federal rule; Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries warns that rounding must not reduce pay over time.
• New York: follows the federal rule; the Department of Labor accepts quarter-hour rounding when neutral.
• Most other states defer to 29 CFR 785.48(b).

Grace periods are not rounding

A policy that lets employees clock in up to 7 minutes early without being paid until the scheduled start is only lawful if they are genuinely not working during that time. If they start working on arrival, the time is compensable regardless of the schedule.

Rounding and meal breaks

Rounding a 28-minute lunch to 30 minutes is a problem in California, where a meal break under 30 minutes triggers a one-hour premium. Donohue v. AMN Services (2021) held that meal-period punches cannot be rounded.

Worked week, 15-minute rounding

Eleven minutes short this week. One week proves nothing; a pattern over months does.

Frequently asked

Can rounding be applied to the daily total? No. The regulation and every interpretation apply it to the punches.

Is 8:07 rounded up or down? Down to 8:00 under quarter-hour rounding. 8:08 goes up to 8:15.

Does rounding apply to breaks? Rest breaks are paid and unaffected. Meal punches should not be rounded in California; elsewhere, rounding the meal punches neutrally is tolerated but risky.

What if my time clock rounds and I disagree? Keep your own record of exact times and compare monthly. A consistent shortfall is a wage claim.