Time clock rounding rules (the 7-minute rule)

Time-clock rounding is the practice of snapping clock-in and clock-out times to a regular interval, most often the nearest quarter hour, to simplify payroll math. It is a long-standing convention.

The quarter-hour and the 7-minute rule

The most common scheme rounds to the nearest 15 minutes using the 7-minute rule:

• Minutes 1 to 7 past the quarter hour round down.
• Minutes 8 to 14 round up to the next quarter hour.

So a clock-in at 9:07 becomes 9:00, and 9:08 becomes 9:15. The split at 7.5 minutes is what makes the rounding symmetric.

The catch: it has to be neutral

Under U.S. federal wage rules, rounding is permitted only if it does not, over time, systematically shortchange workers. Rounding that always lands in the employer's favor (for example, always rounding clock-ins up and clock-outs down) is not allowed. Some states are stricter than the federal baseline, and the clear trend is away from rounding and toward paying actual recorded time.

The simplest safe approach: don't round

Rounding existed because adding up ragged minutes by hand was painful. That reason is gone. Kangaroo Clock records the exact start and end of every shift and totals the real time to the second, so the rounding question mostly disappears. If you do need rounded figures, round the final total, not each punch. See the minutes-to-decimal table for the conversion.

This is general information, not legal advice. Wage and hour rules vary by state and change over time. Check your state's labor department or an employment attorney before setting a rounding policy.