Time Clock Outage Procedure: Backup & Recovery Checklist

What to do when the time clock stops working

1. Confirm the scope and name an owner

Record when the problem was first reported, the affected site and device, and the last time a punch was visibly confirmed. Ask the technical contact whether the issue affects one terminal, one location or the whole application. Keep the incident description factual; a failed screen does not establish whether a punch reached the server.

The supervisor owns time capture. The technical contact owns diagnosis. Payroll owns reconciliation and approval. In a small business, one person may fill more than one role, but each responsibility still needs a named backup.

2. Announce one temporary recording method

Tell employees exactly where to record the next work start, work stop and relevant break events. Use an approved paper log or an accessible controlled form. Avoid collecting the same events through several messages, spreadsheets and notebooks.

If an alternative authorized clock-in method still works, test and confirm a saved punch before directing staff to it. Do not assume that a mobile app, kiosk or browser works offline, or that a failed punch will automatically upload later. That depends on the device, application, configuration and failure involved.

3. Keep recording actual work

Capture events as they happen, with the work date and local time zone. If someone reconstructs an earlier event, label it as a later report and record the basis for the time. The posted schedule can help identify a gap, but it should not silently replace the employee's actual work record.

For U.S. employers covered by the FLSA, the Department of Labor's recordkeeping guidance allows different timekeeping methods when the records are complete and accurate. In British Columbia, the province's guidance requires employers to keep daily hours records. Apply the requirements that cover your employees; this backup process is an operational template.

A backup time log employees can actually use

Prepare the log before the shift begins. An outage is a poor time to decide how employees identify themselves or whether a time means morning or evening. Keep employee pay rates, government identifiers and other unnecessary personal information off a shared sign-in sheet.

Record breaks as they actually occurred. A break entry does not, by itself, determine whether that time is paid. Payroll should apply the relevant policies and legal requirements. If work stops or employees are sent home, escalate the pay treatment separately instead of marking every minute of the outage as unpaid.

Use a separate sheet for each date or clearly label overnight events with both dates. For a shift across a time change, preserve the time zone or offset for each event and have payroll resolve elapsed time before entry. Give only the people who need the log access to it, and retain it under the applicable recordkeeping policy.

Reconcile recovered punches before adding missing time

Restoring the screen is the start of recovery. First determine whether any events were saved, queued or recovered. Preserve the original log and the available system records. Assign one reviewer to each employee and date range so two people do not enter the same correction.

1. Establish the recovery window. Include the last confirmed events before the interruption and the first confirmed events after it.
2. Compare event by event. Match employee, date, event type, time and any job or department information.
3. Resolve uncertainty. Ask the employee and supervisor about conflicts. Keep the original report and the reason for the final value.
4. Enter only the missing or corrected events. Mark each backup row with the action taken. If a matching punch already exists, record that it was matched rather than entering it again.
5. Review resulting totals. Check work and break intervals, daily and weekly totals, time categories and exceptions before approval or export.

For Blair, a confirmed 9:05 a.m. start and 5:05 p.m. finish span eight elapsed hours. If a confirmed 30-minute meal period is unpaid under the applicable rules, the example contains 7.5 work hours. Keep paid time categories and overtime calculations separate from this simple duration check.

Do not delete a record just because its timestamp looks close to another one. Two legitimate events may be near each other, particularly a job transfer or a break transition. Use the event context to decide whether the records are duplicates.

Bring reviewed backup records into TimeTrex

TimeTrex's Enterprise TimeSheets guide documents selecting an employee and date in Attendance → TimeSheet, then using New Punch or Edit for the appropriate event. Access depends on permissions and the employees the supervisor is allowed to manage. Follow the guide for your edition and configuration.

Before entering a historical event, confirm the displayed time zone. The guide describes a Use Employees Timezone setting that can display and edit punches in the selected employee's time zone. Check the event date, In/Out direction, punch type and any required job information against the reviewed backup log.

Next, inspect the affected days and the Exceptions list. Missing punches can affect recorded totals. Correct the underlying record when it is wrong; an exception alone is a reason to investigate, not permission to change a real event to match the schedule.

A normal timesheet edit recalculates the related days in the week, according to TimeTrex's recalculation documentation. Still review the resulting totals. Do not change pay policies or run retroactive policy operations merely to resolve an outage entry.

Finally, compare the approved time with the payroll input or export. If the pay period has already been processed, use your authorized correction process and involve payroll before changing it. The payroll cutoff policy template can help define who owns late corrections and escalation.

Closeout checklist before normal timekeeping resumes

These checkboxes are for an on-screen review and reset when the page reloads. Keep the signed closeout record with the incident file.

• A named owner recorded the affected devices, employees and outage window.
• Every affected employee has complete work and relevant break records, with unresolved gaps assigned to an owner.
• Backup entries were matched against recovered punches; missing events and conflicting records were reviewed.
• Daily and weekly totals, exceptions and payroll inputs were checked after corrections.
• A test punch was confirmed, and employees were told exactly when to return to the normal method.
• The original backup log, correction reasons and closeout approval were retained; the next drill has an owner.

Test the backup plan before the next interruption

Run a short supervised drill that does not disrupt live payroll. Ask an employee to find the log, record a sample event and identify the contact. Ask payroll to explain how it would match that event against a recovered punch. Fix any ambiguity in ownership, access or time-zone labels, then replace outdated copies of the procedure.

Time clock outage FAQs

Can we use a paper timesheet during an outage?

A paper log can serve as a temporary capture method when it records the information your organization needs. Keep it complete, legible and controlled, reconcile it with system records, and follow applicable recordkeeping rules. The U.S. guidance cited above does not require a particular timekeeping form.

Should employees punch again after a failed attempt?

Follow the supervisor's declared backup method. First establish whether the original event was saved. Repeated attempts without confirmation can make recovery harder, so preserve the reported event time and match it against system records before adding another historical entry.

Does TimeTrex automatically recover every offline punch?

This procedure makes no blanket offline-recovery promise. Confirm the behavior of your specific device, application, connection and configuration with your administrator or support contact. Keep an approved backup record until you verify that the required events are present.

What if the outage happens near the payroll cutoff?

Notify payroll immediately, send the reviewed backup records through the approved channel and identify any unresolved events. Payroll should determine the correction and escalation steps under the applicable pay rules. Keep a clear record of what was included in the current run and what still needs action.

Sources reviewed October 19, 2026: U.S. Department of Labor recordkeeping guidance; British Columbia employment standards guidance; and the linked TimeTrex Enterprise documentation. The log, incident sequence and named examples are adaptable operational examples.