The 7-minute rule

The 7-minute rule is the common name for the FLSA's quarter-hour rounding convention. Employers who round punch times to the nearest 15 minutes round down when an employee clocks in or out 1 to 7 minutes past the quarter hour, and up at 8 to 14 minutes. An 8:07 clock-in becomes 8:00; an 8:08 clock-in becomes 8:15.

The conditions that make rounding lawful

Neutrality on paper: rounding must work both ways — policies that only ever round in the employer's favor are unlawful.
Neutrality in practice: even a neutral policy fails if, over time, it systematically underpays. If staff are required to be ready at 8:00 but clock in at 7:53 every day, "rounding" is just unpaid work.
All time worked is still compensable: rounding is an administrative convenience, not a license to shave minutes that add up across a workweek.

A rule outliving its purpose

Quarter-hour rounding made sense for mechanical punch clocks. Digital systems record exact times, and courts — California's most pointedly — have questioned why an employer with to-the-minute records would round at all. The safest modern practice is simple: pay on actual recorded time, and treat the 7-minute rule as history rather than policy. State law may be stricter than the federal rule, so multi-state employers should check before rounding anywhere.

FLSA regulations, 29 C.F.R. § 785.48(b) — US DOL Wage and Hour Division; state law (notably California case law) may restrict rounding further.

Tommy's time clock records exact clock-ins and clock-outs, so you can pay on actual time worked and leave rounding disputes behind entirely.

Related terms

Working out the pay? The free overtime calculator applies the legal rates to your hours in seconds.