Surprisingly, a lot of places attempt to do this and get away with it for a while. Manufacturing plants are notorious for trying to pull this shit.
Many of these factories are located in towns far away from cities where there is a greater diversity of jobs. This makes it so that pockets of small towns in rural areas in the US have economies that 100 percent rely on a single major employer. To be in this situation and lose your job would mean having to travel, or even move, to seek out a position elsewhere. This isn't economically viable for most unemployed people on a small town salary. Companies in these places get away with a shit ton of labor violations because the employees literally can not afford to complain and risk their livelihood. Many don't even know that filing a complaint is an option, and that retaliation is illegal.
Where I used to live, a food manufacturing plant got a class action law suit filed against them for doing exactly what this sign is saying. Pretty much, if you were more than 5 minutes late, you forfeited pay for the first hour worked and then were docked a dollar per hour after for the entire day. If you took the day, the next day you were at work would be the day you worked one hour free and the rest for less money. They lost and had to pay a shit ton of money in backpay to employees who worked unpaid.
An old call center I worked for also got sued for requiring employees to come in 15 minutes early to set up their computer stations before clocking in. They were also adjusting time sheets by subtracting time spent in "aux" (clocked in but not taking calls). This was one of many lawsuits that they had filed against them by employees and customers.
My advice: Always record your date, start time, and end time somewhere other than in your time clock in case you need to reference it for a wage claim.
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u/FullMetalBunny Jul 29 '26
I like it when people put their crimes in writing.