Overtime - Semi-Monthly Timesheets Model

This article has more information on how to use ClickTime's Overtime calculations when you have a semi-monthly timesheet model. Semi-monthly timesheets will be for the 1st - 15th, and 16th - end of the month.

If you have not already, please review this documentation for more information on setting up Overtime Rules.

In order for ClickTime to calculate Overtime, you will need to be using our Timesheet Approvals workflow, as the calculations occur when the timesheet is marked as "approved".

Overview
Process Requirements
Troubleshooting
Notes & Limitations

Overview

Overtime is supported for clients with Semi-monthly timesheet models. If your organization uses semi-monthly timesheets, you can configure overtime rules to accommodate Federal, California, and Custom Overtime rules, including:

• Hours per Week
• Hours per Day
• The 7th Day rule

Overtime is calculated based on a 7 day week (eg: Mon-Sun). Your company’s work week is defined by the “Company’s Start of Week” (you can find this setting on the Company Preferences page).

The overtime calculator only looks at approved timesheets. For accounts with the semi-monthly timesheet model, the overtime calculator looks at multiple consecutive approved timesheets. This is because weekly overtime rules require full weeks, while the semi-monthly model often sees timesheets that end in the middle of a week. Both timesheets must be locked or approved for overtime to be calculated for semi-monthly timesheets.

ClickTime calculates all Overtime for the period in which it was worked, so that it can be paid out to employees immediately.

To accommodate the needs of semi-monthly timesheet models, ClickTime’s overtime calculator reviews full weeks, even when the work week crosses timesheets. ClickTime calculates overtime in a terminal partial week (eg, my timesheet ends on Wednesday) as though it belongs to a full week. When the next timesheet period is approved/locked, ClickTime will re-evaluate the full week; overtime that has already been “paid out” for the prior timesheet period will be subtracted from the overtime calculations for the current timesheet. More details about how ClickTime processes and reports overtime for partial weeks, or weeks that cross timesheet boundaries, are explained below.

ClickTime’s Overtime calculations are based on the best practices defined by the US Department of Labor.

Here is an Explanation of Semi-Monthly Timesheet Overtime Rules: elaws - FLSA Overtime Calculator Advisor 

Process Requirements

This timesheet model requires specific processes to support accurate and timely overtime calculations.

• Timesheets must be approved or locked to be considered for Overtime
• Work weeks can span two Semi Monthly timesheets. ClickTime ONLY calculates overtime if the prior timesheet is already approved. Therefore: You must approve timesheets in chronological order:
• For example, say Timesheet A ends on Wednesday, April 15. Timesheet B starts on Thursday, April 16
• Timesheet A needs to be approved before overtime can be calculated for Timesheet B
• If Timesheet A is not approved, Overtime will not be calculated for Timesheet B (and so on)
• Best practice: Approve consistently. Do not skip timesheet periods or wait to approve multiple timesheet periods at once. However, if you do need to approve multiple timesheet periods, consider using our bulk approvals feature (see below)
• Bulk approvals are supported. Our system will automatically calculate and approve timesheets in chronological order.

Troubleshooting

Gaps in the timesheet approval record can impact your overtime calculations.

When I have small sets of corrections to make, my best practice is to adjust and/or approve just the problem timesheets.

Example: Your organization is ready to run/calculate OT on Timesheet B. Timesheet B is approved, but your organization forgot to approve Timesheet A first. If you were to go back and approve Timesheet A, ClickTime will automatically re-calculate overtime for Timesheet B. This means that it is not necessary to reject Timesheet B to “fix” the overtime calculations for gaps in the record. Note that this effect doesn’t cascade infinitely into the future.

If you want to make adjustments to a large set of data, or have many gaps that need to be addressed, the best practice is to:

• Reject everything up to my target start date,
• Then re-approve the entire set of hours

This will ensure that all calculations are done in order, and are correct and uninterrupted.

Example: If you want to to back-date overtime to several months in the past, you should reject everything back to that date, and then re-approve the timesheets. 

Notes & Limitations

• Changing your Timesheet Model will have the following effect on overtime rules and calculations: all timesheets will be deleted from the company. This includes Approvals Data and all existing Overtime Calculations. This is universal and occurs for all changes to timesheet models
• Changing your Start of Week will have the following effect on overtime rules and calculations to semi-monthly timesheet models:
  • Timesheets and Approvals Data are retained, but Overtime Calculations will be deleted from timesheets
  • This is unique to Semi Monthly Timesheets, as a new start of week will make existing overtime calculations incorrect
• Overtime rules are configured per employment type. Each employment type needs to have OT rules configured in order for the people and timesheets in that group to be considered for overtime. There are no “default” overtime rules in ClickTime.
• The “Overtime Export for Payroll” Report was released in late August