McLennan County approves optional electronic check-in for exempt employees' time reporting

The McLennan County Commissioners Court approved a change March 3 to its time-entry policy to permit exempt employees to use a new electronic time-entry option to record days worked.

Finance and human-resources staff said the policy change will let exempt employees be set up with a preset schedule in the county’s time module and then "check in and out" to document that they worked a given day or portion of a day. Staff emphasized the measure does not change exempt status or overtime pay handling: "It doesn't alter anything about their exempt status," one HR official said.

County staff said the change improves the county's audit trail for intermittent family-and-medical-leave reporting and other administrative needs. The system can be used on a mobile app or desktop, and staff said elected officials and departments that prefer the current paper process may continue to do so; the court emphasized the option is intended to increase transparency and recordkeeping without imposing new pay rules.

Commissioners approved the policy change after asking how remote employees or field foremen would record days; staff said the mobile app, personal devices or later batch entry by the office are viable options and that departments can continue manual entry if they prefer. The court agreed to proceed with the new module but said it could be revisited if departments find it burdensome.