The five time flags to clear before you run crew payroll
Before payroll, check each crew member's week for missed clock-outs, days over 12 hours, overtime, shifts with no job and edits made after the week locked.
Payroll errors on a crew rarely come from the big mistakes. They come from one shift with no clock-out, a Saturday punch that never got a job attached, or a foreman who added hours after the week was closed. Each one is small. Together, they decide whether the checks are right.
The fastest way to catch them is to review the week before you export it, one person at a time, and clear what you find. Here is what that review looks for, and why each item matters.
Flag 1: the missed clock-out
Someone clocked in on Tuesday morning and never clocked out. The shift stays open, so the system cannot know how long they worked. Do not guess. Ask the foreman or the person, then enter the real end time and note why you changed it.
Open shifts left alone are one of the most common reasons a week gets paid wrong, in either direction.
Flag 2: more than 12 hours in one day
A day over 12 hours is not automatically an error. A storm cleanup or a long pour can run that long. But it is worth a look, because a double-entered shift or a clock-out pressed at the wrong time looks the same on a screen. Confirm the hours with the person and the job, then approve.
Flag 3: overtime
TrackOver flags anyone whose paid hours go over the overtime threshold set for the company. The flag makes sure you see it before the check goes out. It does not decide how the hour is paid. Whether an hour is overtime, and at what rate, depends on your pay rules and your state, so check those with your accountant or payroll provider. The review's job is to make sure the hours are right.
Flag 4: no job attached
A shift with no job is not wrong in itself. Shop time, equipment checks and yard work are real. But a shift with no job at all is where mistakes hide. Attach the job, or mark the shift as travel or shop time so it reads correctly, which keeps labor on the job cost report honest.
Flag 5: added after the week was locked
Once a pay week is locked, a shift added or changed afterward deserves a second look. Sometimes it is a legitimate correction for a forgotten day. Sometimes it is someone tidying up a week after the fact. Either way, you want to know who changed what and why before you pay it.
A workable review routine
- Go through the week person by person, not shift by shift. Most people have no flags, and you can approve them quickly.
- Clear each flag by fixing the time, attaching the job, or noting why the shift is right as it stands.
- Export the week only when every person is approved or has a note you can explain.
In TrackOver, the weekly timesheet sorts each person into approved, ready or flagged. Someone with no flags and shifts waiting for approval can be approved in one tap, and flagged people are listed with what is wrong. That keeps the review short when the week is clean and focused when it is not.
Where this fits
If your crew is not yet on phone time, our guide to tracking crew hours without paper timesheets covers the move. Once the hours are clean, they feed job costing directly, which is why a few minutes on Friday pays off all month. For how time tracking works in TrackOver, see the time tracking page.
Common questions
Should I approve a week before I export it? Yes. Approve people as you clear them, then export. A week with flags still open is one you are paying on faith.
What if an employee disputes a flag? Talk through the specific shift, look at what was recorded, and fix it if the record is wrong. Keep a note of what changed and why.
Do these flags replace payroll rules? No. They catch data problems before payroll runs. Overtime, break and pay rules still come from your state and your payroll setup.