Time-Clock Blunder Proves Expensive for Carolina Firm

A New Hanover, North Carolina, firm will pay $1.3 million to 3,661 current and former employees because of a problem with the company’s time clock.

The Wilmington Star-News reports that employees will receive varying amounts, with an average of $300.

Time clocks at New Hanover Regional Hospital were programmed incorrectly during the summer of 2001. Employees who punched the clock 15 minutes early at the start of their shifts or 15 minutes after their shifts ended weren’t paid for the extra hours worked.

The hospital corrected the error, according to the Star-News, but owes employees back pay. The hospital has audited 7,000 records of hourly employees who worked at the hospital during the period in question. It has also tried to figure out a $2,500 difference between the U.S. Department of Labor ‘s figures and the hospital’s figures–though if the hospital erred in the audit, it apparently did so on the side of the employees.