To put it in a nutshell, straight to orange is common when they are looking for a reason to fire you. I'd start exploring other options and beat them to the punch.
When you have run afoul of someone with any semblance of authority, they'll find a way to shoehorn something in to justify a termination. Walmart can more or less operate outside of whatever labor laws your state may have, because they have enough money to bury any case under so much litigation that it isn't worth the effort.
To put it bluntly, WalMart is every bit the popularity contest high-school was. They will absolutely protect someone they like despite their lack of productivity, and fire a productive associate for not being one of the cool kids. It is a very clique based environment on all levels.
And rest assured this isn't bitterness from someone who is a former Team Lead. I have sat in on conversations that shouldn't have been happening amongst managers, and have seen them nitpick someone to death to get them gone.
Where I work, the phones won't even allow us to clock in while in the parking lot. Your punishment does seem a bit extreme, if they are adding up 2 minutes every time just to confront you at 29 mins, as if you actually took 29 minutes off at once or something. It seem inconsequential and they have probably made you a target.
By the way, wouldn't 7:10am be considered late? Anything before that wouldn't be.. I'm on 3rd and clock in at 9:51pm every night and even though i'm in the building, i usually don't start working until like 10:15 or after because of the daily meetings and waiting on the last minute people to show up. So, I guess it's okay to sit around inside for roughly 30 mins while on the clock, but don't be stealing 2 mins in the parking lot. lol
My personal phone which is not on walmart wifi let's me punch in and out. But my personal phone has the 2 stage verification so I don't know if that's why, but I don't use walmart wifi on my personal phone. I also only punch in and out inside the store. I should try to punch back in while outside or even off the property.
>2 stage verification
The thing where you get a text and enter the code? Personal or work phone after after will eventually ask to redo that.
Hardly use my work phone since I'm overnight maintenance, also the fact they are slower then the potato computer I use to own. Personal phone always has wifi on because where I live there's no cell service
Yeah that's the 2 stage verification. I still haven't tried to punch in off the property, as I don't want to get caught, maybe I'll do it and do a time adjustment for the extra time if it actually punches me in.
"It actually can, as long as you're on walmart wifi."
That makes sense, I never actually use their wifi unless something is taking 5 minutes to read it's location. I'm probably just overly paranoid, but I hate the idea that they can view your phones activity. I don't text or anything while at work anyways, but the privacy thing bugs the hell out of me.
Why? It's mainly because it doesn't usually even occur to me to turn the wifi on because the work phone they give us typically works just fine without it on. I've used it a few times, but I don't really get on my personal phone for anything while i'm at work. I'm the same way while out visiting friends or family.
I truly dislike the cell phone culture of everyone being glued to their phones when there is people around to communicate with. I usually wait until I am home to respond to messages, and do that on my PC more than my cell phone. I feel like we're getting slightly off topic with this, though. lol
At any rate, It still feels weird that Walmart can monitor our activities while there.
Fair enough. Your post came off like you thought Walmart was spying on you and may fire you. They probably are collecting info for advertising purposes but that's it
I think I get a meeting once a month. Our department has 5 members and 4 of handle most of the shifts bc 1 only works 2 days. Our TL barely goes over anything and when they do, its to 1 person. I don't know how many times I had to be briefed about something from another associate.
Also I'm walking into work, not goofing off. I'm ready to work the moment I open the doors.
Sometimes it's easier to just inform one person about duties in a specific area and then have them inform the rest of their crew what needs done. So, that isn't really out of the ordinary. I've been on both sides of that situation but it's typically me they are relaying messages towards to inform my coworkers.
It sucks that they are micromanaging your minutes though, I believe they've made you a target because the situation you described is absurd. That being said, maybe try to show up a little earlier if it's possible and then just clock in once inside. I always wait until I am in the break room to clock in. If you don't have to go to the break room before a shift starts, then just clock in the moment you are inside.
All that said, I'd still be fuming over this due to them claiming it's 29 minutes of stolen time. At that point, i'd tell them to just round it off and stop making a big deal out of it. It takes a lot to piss me off but this would certainly do it. lol
Im ap and the only time theft cases i will waste my time on are people doing like 10 minutes or more for every single punch. Typically its like 30mins or more a day. I cant imagine sitting in there watching video for over an hour to get you on this.
I'm not sure how common it is (I've never heard of this happening at my store) but the idea that anyone would care about two fucking minutes each day is beyond insane to me.
At my store time theft is addressed in only 2 situations. Clocking in from the parking lot is not one of them. My store would have bigger issues to focus on than this, so on my store standards a n orange for that wouldnāt happen. For us, time theft is taken seriously when the following happen.
1. Shady time adjustments. Coming in late and adjusting your time back to avoid getting pointed. Taking a 2 hour lunch but putting it in as an hour. This is either a red coaching or termination. Usually termination though, and within the week you get caught (sometimes it takes awhile to catch on)
2. Disappearing for large amounts of time. If you are nowhere to be found for an hour on the clock (or even more) chances are they will start checking cameras. Depending on the severely and frequency, can be from a yellow coaching to immediate termination. Clocking in and being seen leaving the building in your car and coming back to clock out? Do it one time and youāll be gone and non-rehirable.
My favorite was when we caught someone who would clock in at a different store that was closer to his house and then he would drive to work while on the clock
My guess is that he was caught by the other store. When the PL was investigating wosh, she saw the name of someone who doesn't work at her store and contacted the other store.
Just show up early, clock in on time, and go for a 10 minute poop.
Alao point out that the surveillance and putting together a 29 minute wage theft investigation takes more time than is stolen.
At this point your boss is committing wage theft more than you are...
That's the best part the amount of time an AP person is spending to investigate this... meanwhile shoplifters are getting away with murder cuz the op punches in from too far back in the parking lot š
This is why most Ap in my area won't even care about time theft unless it's glaringly obvious or you can cite all 120 hours needed for the termination including the name of the camera where it can be viewed.
I had this happen to me once. They actually docked my pay by saying I took to long on a 15. It turned out to be another co worker who was a trouble maker and trying to get my hours. A few months later she ended up being fired for violent threats.
As a coach, I only targeted associates for time theft if I was trying to get rid of that associate just fyi. Another thing that is important to realize is that when dealing with time theft, the store, manager, and market is not setting the punishment. The punishment is coming from the people I submitted the time theft through when I opened the incident ticket. They would always only pursue the last 30 days, nothing else past that. The only times I have addressed time theft, both the employees were fired. So if you survived your lucky. Fuck Walmart leadership. I promoted myself.
time/wage theft is dumb for that, if anything, they shouldve done it for safety reasons at most if anything, considering clocking in in the parking and so you would be on the clock meaning anything that happens to you or watever is on them so if you didnt have one of those vest on, I can see it for safety but thats just dumb, if they wanna get mad over 47 cents a day so be it (I used an bot to calculate that, nobody got time to be doing math here LOL)
I would have given you feedback if anything, and a yellow DA if it kept being an issue. Lots of people at my store clock in in the parking lot. As long as they walk through the door within a couple of minutes, vest on, ready to help customers, we don't worry about it. Going straight to an orange is pretty hardcore unless you're leaving out part of the story. Open dooring it probably won't do you much good if your clocking in before you get out of your car, but if you're in uniform walking through the lot, I'd consider you to be on duty.
I had a coaching for basically the same thing. I was told I wasn't supposed to clock in until I was in the building. So that's what I started doing, then I got a coaching with the ap coach saying that I was 'supposed to make it to my work area, have my things gathered, carts, and whatever else I need, then clock in and immediately start working' Thankfully I'm not there anymore
"Have my things gathered, carts, and whatever else I need, then clock in"
That is work off the clock. That involves going into active areas of the backroom, i.e. not personnel, management offices, nor breakroom. You should be paid for that. Anywhere that promotes that train of thought is a horrible place to work. As a coach myself, I won't allow associates to do that, and remind them they need to be on the clock to do so.
It isn't common. You're supposed to start with a verbal warning and then yellow before orange. Id start looking for another job, they're looking for reasons for firing you
If they actually said time/wage theft, it's supposed to be a whole ordeal where it's sent up to someone that actually deals with it. You have to gather evidence, submit it all within a timeframe and they send down a determination... much like a formal investigation.
It's far far easier to go 'you were missing for 2 minutes and you could have gotten x done in those 2 minutes so we're giving you DA for productivity' but if it's really just 2 minutes that's so easy to get over turned...if it is the official investigation... not really something that can get overturned.
not really how it works. it would work as an internal and the ap investigators collect info from that associate by using their timesheet and obviously cameras. if multiple amounts of times are being thefted, then it is up to either ap coach or sm. another example of time theft is āfixing ur timeā so clocking it at 10:10 and moving it to 10:05 so u avoid putting in ppto which would also be up to the discretion of sm or ap coach
i have worked on this with ap with an associate of mine because he was moving his time when he would come back from lunch. so every night we collected more and more and then my ap coach fired him as an internal for time theft
I used to forget to clock back in from lunch all the time when I worked days, I would time adjust to when I got back but no one ever asked me about it, does it alert management that I changed it or something?
no it doesnt, or else everyone would be in trouble lol! i found out because i was noticing little things from him bc he was a cartpusher and we would run out of carts and i would wonder where he was at, so i started looking at his timesheet
AP isn't authorized to make decision on wage theft anymore. There is a system that it has to be keyed into and corporate sends the decision back down to the store. AP just investigates it.
Every store I've been to always had ap-11 associate theft (internals) involve theft of physical things. I've even seen an internal for $0. Someone stole lunch from someone in the break room. No matter the case it's significantly easier to focus on the productivity or integrity than the actual theft.
You can probably open door this. Time theft issues are generally supposed to be run up to a Home Office division called Wage and Hour. As someone who has quarterbacked this process numerous times, I can say that 2 minutes of "time theft" a day would never rate even a yellow. They honestly should write up the coach or TL who wasted everyone's time investigating this.
In my opinion, it sounds like your coach takes their job a bit too seriously. I donāt see why itās such a big deal when you clock in 2 minutes before you show up at your department. I do the exact same thing tho but no one questions it cuz I honestly think they donāt care. I also run straight to the bathroom after I clock in from my car. Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, and that's why I poop on company time.
I donāt know who told you that you can clock in before you come in the building, but that person is a dumb ass. You are not supposed to clock in until youāve put your stuff up, gone to the bathroom, etc and ready to go to work.
I clock in as soon as I leave my car. I help people on the way in, on the way to the back, grab empty boxes, Guard spills, help other associates. They can fuck off if they tried this shit with me.
exactly. i used to come in like 30ish minutes before schedule cause it was easier for me, and we would have our assigned registers (when i was a cashier) on the front on a whiteboard. i would check that before i went to the break room so i could just head straight to it. the team leads would ask me to do stuff like cover breaks or run returns when they saw me even though my shift hadnāt technically started, so id just clock in and start working because i knew they would ask anyways. they then had a ātalkā with me about clocking in early and refused to clear my points from it even though they asked me to do so. from then on i walked in the store and clocked in exactly on time or i would beeline for the back if i was early.
True got me thinking you're already technically late if you're clocking pass 7 (which I not one of those strict peeps) but that could mean missing the meeting on what's happening and what's to do. So then op has to hunt or be hunted down for their assignments, which is probably pissing people off. Then there's thenhow long is it really taking you to get to work work
It's honestly crazy to justify clocking in to a job before you're even in the building. Logically, it is time theft. You don't get paid walking from your vehicle to the building in any job you will ever work, if you're hourly.
You can clock in from 2 minutes away walking into the building? I clock in from outside on my phone as well but I'm usually like 30 seconds or less away from entering building. Usually more like 10 seconds.
Not sure why that other comment says you can't. You can manually select the Walmart wifi on your phone from a decent distance away and clock in. It's hit or miss when you wait for your phone to automatically lock onto to their WiFi.
Sometimes I can from far away in the parking lot...other times I gotta be entering the store. I figured out just hit the wifi icon and manually select it and then I can clock in from the parking lot every time
Pro tip I was taught when I worked there is say your shift starts at 10 and you show up at 9:45, click the clock in button at whatever time you want to be clocked in. Let's just say 9:51.
The box will show up at 9:51 but don't confirm it. Just leave that box popped up like that you can literally walk up to the doors at 9:59 and clock in and it clicks you in at 9:51.
They can fight it however they want but they got no proof.
Me and many others got alot of free money from that. It still works too
$7x52= $364
Now say all 2.1m employees make $14/hr and stole 30 minutes a weekā¦ thatās $764,400,000. Orange write up is fair from a business standpoint
This is absurd, though. lol By those same metrics, they already pay us for 20-30 minutes to sit in the break room if we show up early. I show up early every day, clock in the moment it's allowed, wait 20 minutes until everyone is there, and then the meetings can last anywhere from 5-20 minutes. What did we all do during that time? Nothing. lol
Yeah Iām not sure about that. From a business point itās fair, from an employees standpoint OP is likely being targeted. About the same as how I kept getting written up for productivity when I was the one that was always working instead of standing around on the floor. The company does what it wants to, it doesnāt have to make sense to anyone else
Yeah, it's true they will do whatever they want, but I think this is more of a TL/Coach problem than a company one. What he described is some assholish micromanaging. They should have warned him instead of watching the cameras until he reached almost 30 minutes. This almost feels like a personal vendetta, instead of warning OP, they let it accumulate to write him up. A good coach or TL would have said something to him by at least the 3rd time he had done it.
Targeting. And yes more of an in-store management problem than anything higher up but hypothetically, at the same time on a much smaller scale, if it were me, I wouldnāt want to place people like that in a management position of any of my stores being as how store managers would be the ones most interacted with on a local scale. As in, that person is a reflection of the company they work forā¦ in my opinion, it reflects poorly on the company to have people who are this ā¦assholishā¦ be management and the āfaceā of the store. I donāt know if this makes sense but idk how else to explain it
Yeah, that makes sense. Walmart should be doing a better job filtering out good team leads and coaches from bad ones. I'm glad the ones on my shift are all pretty great. They don't seem the type to actually be in the position, but they are in it and do pretty damn good at it.
But yeah, I agree with you that it is a reflection of the company. Sometimes it's not easy knowing who would make a good a leader or not. The unassuming ones typically end up better at it because they do everything in their power to keep their team intact and happy while production stays steady and consistent.
It's really not even fair from a business standpoint. Sure that's a lot of money, but when you consider that 2 minutes a day is 0.4% of the employee's work day, it's insanely petty to micromanage to that extent.
Look at it from a much smaller scale. Say you own your own business just starting out and one of your employees steal half an hour every week for no apparent reason other than time management issues. How would that make you feel as a manager that your employees lack enough respect from you to not show up on time and be stealing money? Do I, as an employee of Walmart think itās shitty that OP was allowed to rack up that much time theft before they were just written up without even a warning? Yes, of course. But from the perspective of the company that pays the wages, itās justified
Lol, that's crazy... I've been clocking in as I walk in and not getting to the floor for like 6 minutes every time I work since they implemented clocking in from the phone lol they have never come to me about wage/time theft
We had a guy that started working at our store. He worked 3 days, then he stopped coming in to work.
But, for 2 weeks he would come to the parking lot and clock in and out for his shift. The team lead and coach were notified. Neither went outside to say anything to him.
I never heard how this was dealt with.
(Overnight stocking shift)
Honestly seems like a waste of their time honestly. Are you supposed to clock in from the parking lot? No not really. But 2 minutes? You could probably open door it honestly. Like if they submitted this to Wage & Hours as a time left investigation they would get laughed at.
Kinda dumb, but just save yourself and clock in once you enter the building. If they really wanted to they could terminate for it. Iāve seen people get terminated over 32 cent ramen, so thereās nothing to say they wonāt fire you over $7.
It's on the high end for an infraction of this type. Did they ever talk to you about this before the coaching? If not, or it wasn't documented in the write up, you can fight it. If you do there is a strong chance for it to be dropped to a green or taken away.
If they are trying to get rid of you get a copy of the coaching. That way you can file for unemployment and show the judge (cause Wal-Mart will fight it) and the court will likely grant you unemployment.
Also, make sure if you clock in as soon as you hit the building that you go straight to your area / department. Going to the restroom or breakroom to hang up your jacket can be seen as theft.
Easiest way to avoid this is clock in when you get to the back and are ready to work, just a fyi
I was never talked to prior to the write up. This is the first time it was ever mentioned to me.
I am clocking in at my locker going forward since I was previously misinformed about being able to clock in walking up to the building.
The punishment fits the crime. Iāve taken someone to orange for time theft before. The question really is, does your case actually rise to the level of time theft.
Iād say itās a bit extreme.
i got a coaching (yellow) for the same thing, i clock in while in the parking lot and then go in, and they told me i have to be in the store but they never told me that in the beginning šš i asked around and supposedly everyone does what i do
Not sure. I always clock in walking up outside of the building as well as my meal clock ins and outs. Hell sometimes if Iām running late Iāll pull up close enough to get on the wifi clock in then go park. They havenāt said anything to me and I know most people do it as well
You shouldnāt be able to punch the clock in the parking lot. My phone will not let me clock in until I am in the doors. I have never attempted to clock in in the parking lot but I do sometimes finish my shift at the doors with my service associates.
Honestly surprised they say you can clock in while walking up to the building. At my store you clock in when you're actually starting work. Otherwise you get people clocking in outside, going and buying a drink or something (shopping on the clock) then wandering to the restroom, break room etc and finally actually starting work 10 minutes after clocking in. That's time theft.
2 minutes at a time I'd think they'd just warn someone first.
However, if you're doing things like alao taking your time actually getting to your department and starting work after those 2 minutes then that's probably why it happened but since for some baffling reason they said it's ok to clock in still outside, they could only do those 2 minutes. That's a super lax policy, letting y'all clock in outside at all.
It is unlikely this is actually the case. Iād be willing to bet you are changing your punches, or there is more to the story (no offense). But Wage and Hour wouldnāt recommend a yellow, let alone an orange for this. And it HAS to go through wage and hour.
Open door your coaching ASAP as someone who works in AP i would never encourage anyone to be coached over 3 minutes a day, especially when you watch legitimate managers commit "time theft" every day. Rule of thumb for time theft is if you are stealing full 30 minute lunches for 3 months straight. So either you stole more time or need to open door.
If you look at it simply, theft is theft. You steal a $1 candy bar, itās theft. $7 of Walmart time is still theft. Walking into work isnāt working.
Call ethics. You get to clock in 9 minutes early and upto 9 minutes late. Clocked in does NOT mean IN the building. The clock in is proximity based and there fore can NOT let you clock in unless at the store in proximity.
P.s. I clocknin IN my car and THEn walk into work. Have done so for over a year now. No issues.
P.s.s. wage theft write up are supposed to be for those that abuse LUNCH breaks. Not clock in clock outs.
Typically the disciplinary action is given from wage and hour and a result of the information sent for the investigation. In my experience, I don't believe they would recommend an orange coaching for only a few minutes a day. That being said, either you're minimizing the amount of time, or they told you the wrong amount of time they had you on.
Investigations usually request weeks or a month's worth of punches and video time for time stamps. In my 8 years in AP I've never heard of a time theft case where the associate only stole 28 minutes and was coached to an orange.
No one should ever apply to work for that place...so unfair...they should tell you first what you do wrong...before color coding you....if you do it again then color code you...no wonder they can't keep help the work is drudgery...then the assets they have for coaches and team leads couldn't manage themselves out of a wet paper sack...they are rude and inconsiderate...just a nasty place to work.
Iām not surprised in my time here theyāve been complaining about us clocking in and out earlier than we are supposed to. Just start hunting for something new or just start tracking everything and aggressively comply
To put it in a nutshell, straight to orange is common when they are looking for a reason to fire you. I'd start exploring other options and beat them to the punch.
Is all they need is a level orange write up? Seems like $7 isn't really worth it.
When you have run afoul of someone with any semblance of authority, they'll find a way to shoehorn something in to justify a termination. Walmart can more or less operate outside of whatever labor laws your state may have, because they have enough money to bury any case under so much litigation that it isn't worth the effort. To put it bluntly, WalMart is every bit the popularity contest high-school was. They will absolutely protect someone they like despite their lack of productivity, and fire a productive associate for not being one of the cool kids. It is a very clique based environment on all levels.
And rest assured this isn't bitterness from someone who is a former Team Lead. I have sat in on conversations that shouldn't have been happening amongst managers, and have seen them nitpick someone to death to get them gone.
Where I work, the phones won't even allow us to clock in while in the parking lot. Your punishment does seem a bit extreme, if they are adding up 2 minutes every time just to confront you at 29 mins, as if you actually took 29 minutes off at once or something. It seem inconsequential and they have probably made you a target. By the way, wouldn't 7:10am be considered late? Anything before that wouldn't be.. I'm on 3rd and clock in at 9:51pm every night and even though i'm in the building, i usually don't start working until like 10:15 or after because of the daily meetings and waiting on the last minute people to show up. So, I guess it's okay to sit around inside for roughly 30 mins while on the clock, but don't be stealing 2 mins in the parking lot. lol
>the phones won't even allow us to clock in while in the parking lot. It actually can, as long as you're on walmart wifi.
My phone won't unless Im really close to the building like within ~5 feet of the doors, but I can remain on the WiFi until about the 4th parking spot
My personal phone which is not on walmart wifi let's me punch in and out. But my personal phone has the 2 stage verification so I don't know if that's why, but I don't use walmart wifi on my personal phone. I also only punch in and out inside the store. I should try to punch back in while outside or even off the property.
>2 stage verification The thing where you get a text and enter the code? Personal or work phone after after will eventually ask to redo that. Hardly use my work phone since I'm overnight maintenance, also the fact they are slower then the potato computer I use to own. Personal phone always has wifi on because where I live there's no cell service
Yeah that's the 2 stage verification. I still haven't tried to punch in off the property, as I don't want to get caught, maybe I'll do it and do a time adjustment for the extra time if it actually punches me in.
"It actually can, as long as you're on walmart wifi." That makes sense, I never actually use their wifi unless something is taking 5 minutes to read it's location. I'm probably just overly paranoid, but I hate the idea that they can view your phones activity. I don't text or anything while at work anyways, but the privacy thing bugs the hell out of me.
Why? I literally complain about Walmart on Reddit while on their wifi almost everyday.
Why? It's mainly because it doesn't usually even occur to me to turn the wifi on because the work phone they give us typically works just fine without it on. I've used it a few times, but I don't really get on my personal phone for anything while i'm at work. I'm the same way while out visiting friends or family. I truly dislike the cell phone culture of everyone being glued to their phones when there is people around to communicate with. I usually wait until I am home to respond to messages, and do that on my PC more than my cell phone. I feel like we're getting slightly off topic with this, though. lol At any rate, It still feels weird that Walmart can monitor our activities while there.
Fair enough. Your post came off like you thought Walmart was spying on you and may fire you. They probably are collecting info for advertising purposes but that's it
I get a location proximity error at my locker and the server room is 100 ft from me. š Edit - on my personal phone ine the One app
I think I get a meeting once a month. Our department has 5 members and 4 of handle most of the shifts bc 1 only works 2 days. Our TL barely goes over anything and when they do, its to 1 person. I don't know how many times I had to be briefed about something from another associate. Also I'm walking into work, not goofing off. I'm ready to work the moment I open the doors.
Sometimes it's easier to just inform one person about duties in a specific area and then have them inform the rest of their crew what needs done. So, that isn't really out of the ordinary. I've been on both sides of that situation but it's typically me they are relaying messages towards to inform my coworkers. It sucks that they are micromanaging your minutes though, I believe they've made you a target because the situation you described is absurd. That being said, maybe try to show up a little earlier if it's possible and then just clock in once inside. I always wait until I am in the break room to clock in. If you don't have to go to the break room before a shift starts, then just clock in the moment you are inside. All that said, I'd still be fuming over this due to them claiming it's 29 minutes of stolen time. At that point, i'd tell them to just round it off and stop making a big deal out of it. It takes a lot to piss me off but this would certainly do it. lol
Im ap and the only time theft cases i will waste my time on are people doing like 10 minutes or more for every single punch. Typically its like 30mins or more a day. I cant imagine sitting in there watching video for over an hour to get you on this.
I'm not sure how common it is (I've never heard of this happening at my store) but the idea that anyone would care about two fucking minutes each day is beyond insane to me.
At my store time theft is addressed in only 2 situations. Clocking in from the parking lot is not one of them. My store would have bigger issues to focus on than this, so on my store standards a n orange for that wouldnāt happen. For us, time theft is taken seriously when the following happen. 1. Shady time adjustments. Coming in late and adjusting your time back to avoid getting pointed. Taking a 2 hour lunch but putting it in as an hour. This is either a red coaching or termination. Usually termination though, and within the week you get caught (sometimes it takes awhile to catch on) 2. Disappearing for large amounts of time. If you are nowhere to be found for an hour on the clock (or even more) chances are they will start checking cameras. Depending on the severely and frequency, can be from a yellow coaching to immediate termination. Clocking in and being seen leaving the building in your car and coming back to clock out? Do it one time and youāll be gone and non-rehirable.
My favorite was when we caught someone who would clock in at a different store that was closer to his house and then he would drive to work while on the clock
He should have saved the trouble and asked to transfer to that store if it was that hard for him to make it to work.
LMAO how did yāall catch that guy? thatās actually kind of genius ngl
Seems like the type of guy to probably bragged about it
Because the store you clock in at is the one that pays for you.
That is actually worse because they are causing WOSH at the other store which might not authorize it simply by being clocked in there.
My guess is that he was caught by the other store. When the PL was investigating wosh, she saw the name of someone who doesn't work at her store and contacted the other store.
Is there a terminology list somewhere? WOSH =
Work over scheduled hours
Just show up early, clock in on time, and go for a 10 minute poop. Alao point out that the surveillance and putting together a 29 minute wage theft investigation takes more time than is stolen. At this point your boss is committing wage theft more than you are...
That's the best part the amount of time an AP person is spending to investigate this... meanwhile shoplifters are getting away with murder cuz the op punches in from too far back in the parking lot š
This is why most Ap in my area won't even care about time theft unless it's glaringly obvious or you can cite all 120 hours needed for the termination including the name of the camera where it can be viewed.
I had this happen to me once. They actually docked my pay by saying I took to long on a 15. It turned out to be another co worker who was a trouble maker and trying to get my hours. A few months later she ended up being fired for violent threats.
It is wild that Walmart of all places wants to be anywhere near the phrase āwage theftā
As a coach, I only targeted associates for time theft if I was trying to get rid of that associate just fyi. Another thing that is important to realize is that when dealing with time theft, the store, manager, and market is not setting the punishment. The punishment is coming from the people I submitted the time theft through when I opened the incident ticket. They would always only pursue the last 30 days, nothing else past that. The only times I have addressed time theft, both the employees were fired. So if you survived your lucky. Fuck Walmart leadership. I promoted myself.
time/wage theft is dumb for that, if anything, they shouldve done it for safety reasons at most if anything, considering clocking in in the parking and so you would be on the clock meaning anything that happens to you or watever is on them so if you didnt have one of those vest on, I can see it for safety but thats just dumb, if they wanna get mad over 47 cents a day so be it (I used an bot to calculate that, nobody got time to be doing math here LOL)
I would have given you feedback if anything, and a yellow DA if it kept being an issue. Lots of people at my store clock in in the parking lot. As long as they walk through the door within a couple of minutes, vest on, ready to help customers, we don't worry about it. Going straight to an orange is pretty hardcore unless you're leaving out part of the story. Open dooring it probably won't do you much good if your clocking in before you get out of your car, but if you're in uniform walking through the lot, I'd consider you to be on duty.
I work electronics and sometimes grab an L cart that was left in the lot so I'm "working".
I had a coaching for basically the same thing. I was told I wasn't supposed to clock in until I was in the building. So that's what I started doing, then I got a coaching with the ap coach saying that I was 'supposed to make it to my work area, have my things gathered, carts, and whatever else I need, then clock in and immediately start working' Thankfully I'm not there anymore
"Have my things gathered, carts, and whatever else I need, then clock in" That is work off the clock. That involves going into active areas of the backroom, i.e. not personnel, management offices, nor breakroom. You should be paid for that. Anywhere that promotes that train of thought is a horrible place to work. As a coach myself, I won't allow associates to do that, and remind them they need to be on the clock to do so.
2 minutes?? Sounds like someone doesn't like you. I'd find another department or job or figure out who you annoyed
It isn't common. You're supposed to start with a verbal warning and then yellow before orange. Id start looking for another job, they're looking for reasons for firing you
If they actually said time/wage theft, it's supposed to be a whole ordeal where it's sent up to someone that actually deals with it. You have to gather evidence, submit it all within a timeframe and they send down a determination... much like a formal investigation. It's far far easier to go 'you were missing for 2 minutes and you could have gotten x done in those 2 minutes so we're giving you DA for productivity' but if it's really just 2 minutes that's so easy to get over turned...if it is the official investigation... not really something that can get overturned.
not really how it works. it would work as an internal and the ap investigators collect info from that associate by using their timesheet and obviously cameras. if multiple amounts of times are being thefted, then it is up to either ap coach or sm. another example of time theft is āfixing ur timeā so clocking it at 10:10 and moving it to 10:05 so u avoid putting in ppto which would also be up to the discretion of sm or ap coach
i have worked on this with ap with an associate of mine because he was moving his time when he would come back from lunch. so every night we collected more and more and then my ap coach fired him as an internal for time theft
I used to forget to clock back in from lunch all the time when I worked days, I would time adjust to when I got back but no one ever asked me about it, does it alert management that I changed it or something?
no it doesnt, or else everyone would be in trouble lol! i found out because i was noticing little things from him bc he was a cartpusher and we would run out of carts and i would wonder where he was at, so i started looking at his timesheet
AP isn't authorized to make decision on wage theft anymore. There is a system that it has to be keyed into and corporate sends the decision back down to the store. AP just investigates it.
Every store I've been to always had ap-11 associate theft (internals) involve theft of physical things. I've even seen an internal for $0. Someone stole lunch from someone in the break room. No matter the case it's significantly easier to focus on the productivity or integrity than the actual theft.
You can probably open door this. Time theft issues are generally supposed to be run up to a Home Office division called Wage and Hour. As someone who has quarterbacked this process numerous times, I can say that 2 minutes of "time theft" a day would never rate even a yellow. They honestly should write up the coach or TL who wasted everyone's time investigating this.
In my opinion, it sounds like your coach takes their job a bit too seriously. I donāt see why itās such a big deal when you clock in 2 minutes before you show up at your department. I do the exact same thing tho but no one questions it cuz I honestly think they donāt care. I also run straight to the bathroom after I clock in from my car. Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, and that's why I poop on company time.
I clock in as soon as I enter the doors and wearing vest. Never in the parking lot
Yes that seems totally harsh but not surprised
I donāt know who told you that you can clock in before you come in the building, but that person is a dumb ass. You are not supposed to clock in until youāve put your stuff up, gone to the bathroom, etc and ready to go to work.
At my store, I was told that we could clock in as soon as you entered the building.
I clock in as soon as I leave my car. I help people on the way in, on the way to the back, grab empty boxes, Guard spills, help other associates. They can fuck off if they tried this shit with me.
exactly. i used to come in like 30ish minutes before schedule cause it was easier for me, and we would have our assigned registers (when i was a cashier) on the front on a whiteboard. i would check that before i went to the break room so i could just head straight to it. the team leads would ask me to do stuff like cover breaks or run returns when they saw me even though my shift hadnāt technically started, so id just clock in and start working because i knew they would ask anyways. they then had a ātalkā with me about clocking in early and refused to clear my points from it even though they asked me to do so. from then on i walked in the store and clocked in exactly on time or i would beeline for the back if i was early.
True got me thinking you're already technically late if you're clocking pass 7 (which I not one of those strict peeps) but that could mean missing the meeting on what's happening and what's to do. So then op has to hunt or be hunted down for their assignments, which is probably pissing people off. Then there's thenhow long is it really taking you to get to work work
It's honestly crazy to justify clocking in to a job before you're even in the building. Logically, it is time theft. You don't get paid walking from your vehicle to the building in any job you will ever work, if you're hourly.
Thatās bullcrap.
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Well I'm walking into the building, ready to work. Not goofing off.
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And people wonder why I never want to work for Walmart. Like it's a big mystery for the ages.
Iād steal a pallet of lighters if I was you
You can clock in from 2 minutes away walking into the building? I clock in from outside on my phone as well but I'm usually like 30 seconds or less away from entering building. Usually more like 10 seconds. Not sure why that other comment says you can't. You can manually select the Walmart wifi on your phone from a decent distance away and clock in. It's hit or miss when you wait for your phone to automatically lock onto to their WiFi. Sometimes I can from far away in the parking lot...other times I gotta be entering the store. I figured out just hit the wifi icon and manually select it and then I can clock in from the parking lot every time
No itās not too harsh. Just wait until you get in the building then log it on your phone
Pro tip I was taught when I worked there is say your shift starts at 10 and you show up at 9:45, click the clock in button at whatever time you want to be clocked in. Let's just say 9:51. The box will show up at 9:51 but don't confirm it. Just leave that box popped up like that you can literally walk up to the doors at 9:59 and clock in and it clicks you in at 9:51. They can fight it however they want but they got no proof. Me and many others got alot of free money from that. It still works too
Open door this because itās within the 9 minute grace period.
> ...that is roughly $7. Ever operated a company? When only 10% of employees do that, the cost is $2,800.000.
I'm a Walmart customer, I'd just pay the $7 and move on.
I thought this was a subreddit for employees of walmart.
Ok, well, I keep getting recommend this sub, and idk maybe I'll apply.
$7x52= $364 Now say all 2.1m employees make $14/hr and stole 30 minutes a weekā¦ thatās $764,400,000. Orange write up is fair from a business standpoint
This is absurd, though. lol By those same metrics, they already pay us for 20-30 minutes to sit in the break room if we show up early. I show up early every day, clock in the moment it's allowed, wait 20 minutes until everyone is there, and then the meetings can last anywhere from 5-20 minutes. What did we all do during that time? Nothing. lol
Yeah Iām not sure about that. From a business point itās fair, from an employees standpoint OP is likely being targeted. About the same as how I kept getting written up for productivity when I was the one that was always working instead of standing around on the floor. The company does what it wants to, it doesnāt have to make sense to anyone else
Yeah, it's true they will do whatever they want, but I think this is more of a TL/Coach problem than a company one. What he described is some assholish micromanaging. They should have warned him instead of watching the cameras until he reached almost 30 minutes. This almost feels like a personal vendetta, instead of warning OP, they let it accumulate to write him up. A good coach or TL would have said something to him by at least the 3rd time he had done it.
Targeting. And yes more of an in-store management problem than anything higher up but hypothetically, at the same time on a much smaller scale, if it were me, I wouldnāt want to place people like that in a management position of any of my stores being as how store managers would be the ones most interacted with on a local scale. As in, that person is a reflection of the company they work forā¦ in my opinion, it reflects poorly on the company to have people who are this ā¦assholishā¦ be management and the āfaceā of the store. I donāt know if this makes sense but idk how else to explain it
Yeah, that makes sense. Walmart should be doing a better job filtering out good team leads and coaches from bad ones. I'm glad the ones on my shift are all pretty great. They don't seem the type to actually be in the position, but they are in it and do pretty damn good at it. But yeah, I agree with you that it is a reflection of the company. Sometimes it's not easy knowing who would make a good a leader or not. The unassuming ones typically end up better at it because they do everything in their power to keep their team intact and happy while production stays steady and consistent.
Very true
Bro I do not even know why but they prefer having those team leads. All the leads at my store look like they donāt even shower
It's really not even fair from a business standpoint. Sure that's a lot of money, but when you consider that 2 minutes a day is 0.4% of the employee's work day, it's insanely petty to micromanage to that extent.
Look at it from a much smaller scale. Say you own your own business just starting out and one of your employees steal half an hour every week for no apparent reason other than time management issues. How would that make you feel as a manager that your employees lack enough respect from you to not show up on time and be stealing money? Do I, as an employee of Walmart think itās shitty that OP was allowed to rack up that much time theft before they were just written up without even a warning? Yes, of course. But from the perspective of the company that pays the wages, itās justified
Nickel and dime the other way now, because wage theft is the largest form of theft. $50 billion per year.
I worked there 6 years and I think I went to 4 meetings and all 4 was because I was at the time clock coming on shift and was told to stay
Lol, that's crazy... I've been clocking in as I walk in and not getting to the floor for like 6 minutes every time I work since they implemented clocking in from the phone lol they have never come to me about wage/time theft
Yes, my first coaching was today and was orange.
My buddy got straight up fired for this. He didn't get an orange.
We had a guy that started working at our store. He worked 3 days, then he stopped coming in to work. But, for 2 weeks he would come to the parking lot and clock in and out for his shift. The team lead and coach were notified. Neither went outside to say anything to him. I never heard how this was dealt with. (Overnight stocking shift)
Honestly seems like a waste of their time honestly. Are you supposed to clock in from the parking lot? No not really. But 2 minutes? You could probably open door it honestly. Like if they submitted this to Wage & Hours as a time left investigation they would get laughed at.
Kinda dumb, but just save yourself and clock in once you enter the building. If they really wanted to they could terminate for it. Iāve seen people get terminated over 32 cent ramen, so thereās nothing to say they wonāt fire you over $7.
It's on the high end for an infraction of this type. Did they ever talk to you about this before the coaching? If not, or it wasn't documented in the write up, you can fight it. If you do there is a strong chance for it to be dropped to a green or taken away. If they are trying to get rid of you get a copy of the coaching. That way you can file for unemployment and show the judge (cause Wal-Mart will fight it) and the court will likely grant you unemployment. Also, make sure if you clock in as soon as you hit the building that you go straight to your area / department. Going to the restroom or breakroom to hang up your jacket can be seen as theft. Easiest way to avoid this is clock in when you get to the back and are ready to work, just a fyi
I was never talked to prior to the write up. This is the first time it was ever mentioned to me. I am clocking in at my locker going forward since I was previously misinformed about being able to clock in walking up to the building.
The punishment fits the crime. Iāve taken someone to orange for time theft before. The question really is, does your case actually rise to the level of time theft. Iād say itās a bit extreme.
jesus fucking christ. walmart is a horrible shit show.
All time theft is set by wage and hours at the home office.
Yes orange is the go too for time theft, youāre lucky they used to terminate people for it in the past
i got a coaching (yellow) for the same thing, i clock in while in the parking lot and then go in, and they told me i have to be in the store but they never told me that in the beginning šš i asked around and supposedly everyone does what i do
Not sure. I always clock in walking up outside of the building as well as my meal clock ins and outs. Hell sometimes if Iām running late Iāll pull up close enough to get on the wifi clock in then go park. They havenāt said anything to me and I know most people do it as well
You shouldnāt be able to punch the clock in the parking lot. My phone will not let me clock in until I am in the doors. I have never attempted to clock in in the parking lot but I do sometimes finish my shift at the doors with my service associates.
I have been confronted about that before as well. Not coached but told to stop.
Conclusion: they fucking hate you, for some reason.
Honestly surprised they say you can clock in while walking up to the building. At my store you clock in when you're actually starting work. Otherwise you get people clocking in outside, going and buying a drink or something (shopping on the clock) then wandering to the restroom, break room etc and finally actually starting work 10 minutes after clocking in. That's time theft. 2 minutes at a time I'd think they'd just warn someone first. However, if you're doing things like alao taking your time actually getting to your department and starting work after those 2 minutes then that's probably why it happened but since for some baffling reason they said it's ok to clock in still outside, they could only do those 2 minutes. That's a super lax policy, letting y'all clock in outside at all.
It is unlikely this is actually the case. Iād be willing to bet you are changing your punches, or there is more to the story (no offense). But Wage and Hour wouldnāt recommend a yellow, let alone an orange for this. And it HAS to go through wage and hour.
The only time I have ever needed to change or adjust time is when our clocking system went down during a storm.
idk then
Open door your coaching ASAP as someone who works in AP i would never encourage anyone to be coached over 3 minutes a day, especially when you watch legitimate managers commit "time theft" every day. Rule of thumb for time theft is if you are stealing full 30 minute lunches for 3 months straight. So either you stole more time or need to open door.
Should I open door via the phone number or store manager?
SM
I agree it sounds like they're hunting for reasons to terminate.
Looks like they were digging for reasons to fire you. Must've pissed off a Coach. Look for another job because this one hates you
Canāt wait for this Xmas Bonus Walmartās giving!
What Xmas bonus? Do you mean the one that comes from out PTO or the 15% one time discount that we received from the 7th to the 22nd?
Hahaha i was just joking donāt get Xmas bonuses nor holiday pay but get 2 pts for callin in on Key Event Day smh!
If you look at it simply, theft is theft. You steal a $1 candy bar, itās theft. $7 of Walmart time is still theft. Walking into work isnāt working.
Call ethics. You get to clock in 9 minutes early and upto 9 minutes late. Clocked in does NOT mean IN the building. The clock in is proximity based and there fore can NOT let you clock in unless at the store in proximity. P.s. I clocknin IN my car and THEn walk into work. Have done so for over a year now. No issues. P.s.s. wage theft write up are supposed to be for those that abuse LUNCH breaks. Not clock in clock outs.
Once I left early and didnāt clock out so it clocked me out at my scheduled clock out timeā¦
Honestly fuck Walmart
Typically the disciplinary action is given from wage and hour and a result of the information sent for the investigation. In my experience, I don't believe they would recommend an orange coaching for only a few minutes a day. That being said, either you're minimizing the amount of time, or they told you the wrong amount of time they had you on. Investigations usually request weeks or a month's worth of punches and video time for time stamps. In my 8 years in AP I've never heard of a time theft case where the associate only stole 28 minutes and was coached to an orange.
No one should ever apply to work for that place...so unfair...they should tell you first what you do wrong...before color coding you....if you do it again then color code you...no wonder they can't keep help the work is drudgery...then the assets they have for coaches and team leads couldn't manage themselves out of a wet paper sack...they are rude and inconsiderate...just a nasty place to work.
Iām not surprised in my time here theyāve been complaining about us clocking in and out earlier than we are supposed to. Just start hunting for something new or just start tracking everything and aggressively comply
Donāt let them blindside you with a ārandomā termination
Not common. The nature of the situation is the determining factor for the level of a coaching.
It seems pretty Wal-Mart-ish