If you notice hours missing from your time records or believe your employer has altered them, it is important to act quickly and carefully. The hours your employer reports often become important if there is a disagreement about the time you worked.
Here are the steps you should take if your employer’s records do not match the time you actually worked.
Compare your records
Start by confirming whether the hours listed by your employer match the time you actually worked. Compare your pay stubs, timecards and work schedules with any information you kept yourself, such as calendar entries, clock-in confirmations, emails or screenshots.
Comparing everything side by side can help you identify exactly which hours or shifts do not match and whether the discrepancy affected your wages.
Preserve supporting evidence
Save anything that shows when you worked as soon as you notice a problem. Helpful evidence may include text messages about your schedule, emails assigning work or approving overtime and copies of your work schedules.
In addition, you can also speak with your company’s IT department or security for your badge swipe or building access records. If your company uses an online platform for signing in to work, you can use screenshots or a downloaded spreadsheet of your electronic timekeeping entries.
Keeping all these in one place can make it easier to show what happened if questions arise later. It can also help you point to specific dates, hours or shifts instead of relying on memory alone.
Ask questions before making assumptions
Not every discrepancy means your employer intentionally changed your hours. Payroll mistakes and system errors can happen, so ask for an explanation before jumping to conclusions. If you raise the issue, communicate in writing when possible and keep copies of those conversations. Having a clear paper trail may also help if the problem is not corrected.
Protect your right to fair pay
Acting promptly and keeping your information organized can make it easier to address payroll discrepancies before they become more difficult to resolve. If your employer refuses to correct the issue or cannot explain the differences, consider seeking legal assistance to better understand your rights and what you can do next.