Timesheet approval is the step where a manager confirms an employee’s recorded hours are correct before payroll uses them. It is where missed punches, overtime and break problems are caught.
A manager’s approval says the hours match what the manager knows. An employee’s sign-off says the employee agrees the hours are complete. Many employers use both: the employee confirms, then the manager approves. EZTime sends employees a monthly attendance report they can sign digitally, and timecard corrections go through a missed-punch request that the manager approves, with an audit trail of who changed what.
With the EZTime time clock app, employees clock in from their phone with GPS and managers approve hours from anywhere.
Keep the approved records. Under 29 CFR 516.5, payroll records are kept for at least 3 years, and under 29 CFR 516.6, basic time cards for at least 2 years. Many states require longer.
A restaurant manager approves 18 timesheets every other Monday by noon. She starts with the exceptions: 3 missing clock-outs, 2 shifts over 10 hours and 1 missed meal break. The 3 missing clock-outs all have missed-punch requests from the employees with times that match the closing checklist, so she approves them. The 2 long shifts were a catering event; she approves them and notes the event.
The missed meal break was a busy Saturday. In her state that triggers a premium, so she flags it for payroll instead of editing the break in. The other 12 timesheets have no exceptions. Total time: about 20 minutes, because she reviewed the 6 exceptions, not 18 timesheets line by line.
Approval works when everyone knows the deadline. Set a fixed time for each step in the pay period: employees fix missed punches by the end of the last day, managers approve by a set hour the next working day, and payroll closes after that. Publish the calendar for the year, with earlier deadlines in holiday weeks.
Name a backup approver for every manager. When a manager is on vacation or out sick, the backup approves, so no timesheet waits and nobody’s pay is late because one person was away.
| Step | Deadline | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Missed-punch requests submitted | Sunday, end of the period | Employees |
| Exceptions reviewed and approved | Monday, 12:00 p.m. | Manager or backup |
| Payroll export | Monday, 3:00 p.m. | Payroll |
A clinic’s office manager is on vacation on the Monday that timesheets are due. In the past, payroll waited for her return, and two hourly employees with overtime were paid late.
The clinic names the lead nurse as backup approver. The next time the office manager is away, the lead nurse reviews the 4 exceptions and approves on time, and the original punches and her approval are both kept in the audit trail.
Usually the direct manager or shift lead who knows when the person worked. In larger teams, payroll or HR does a second check of exceptions.
Federal law does not require an employee signature, but many employers ask for one because it confirms the hours are complete and reduces later disputes. Some states and union contracts have their own rules.
The manager can address the employee’s failure to get permission, but the hours worked still have to be paid.
Federal rules require payroll records for at least 3 years and basic time cards for at least 2 years. Check your state, which may require longer.
Pay must still go out on the regular payday. A backup approver or payroll should review the exceptions so nobody is paid late.
Yes, if an error is found. Keep the original record, record the correction with a reason and approver, and pay any difference.
Employees clock in by mobile GPS, web, kiosk or NFC, with geofencing, break alerts and missed-punch requests that keep an audit trail.