This Podcast Is Episode Number 0324, And It Will Be About Effective Strategies For Contractor Timecard Issues Employees need to fill out timecards. The most practical reason is that all employees want to get paid, early, often, and regularly.   For those of you that are parents, do you remember when you brought home your newborn baby? They need food, water and diaper changed. You learned all about "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" Some children who are born on a HOT summer day seem to get "overheated" quickly and do not suffer quietly.    If you have employees, you may notice in some similarities to raising children because in some cases you the contractor take over where your employee's parents left off. They want their paychecks (allowance) on a regular basis, and it had better not bounce at the bank due to insufficient funds.   If any of your construction worker's paychecks do happen to bounce or they are not able to cash it at the bank because your construction company does not have enough money in the payroll account then most likely you will find whatever tools and equipment they have easy access to at the nearest pawn shop.   In almost all cases, in addition to visiting the local pawn shop if an employee does not get paid "On Time," they may contact your local state agencies and even Federal agencies for assistance. Please understand payday is "Results Driven," your results, not theirs and "No Excuses Allowed."   Purpose Of All Timecards:   1. Pay Employees   2. Fill out Government Forms   3. Job Costing for a better bottom line   As the employer, you need to have the timecard as the foundation for making sure employees get paid. Employees need to fill-it-out their timecard and total it, including anyone on salary. You can create your timecard, or you can download our FREE timecard form and modify it to fit your needs. Timecard needs to be something more than a few numbers scribbled on the back of a paper bag or the nearest Home Depot receipt (those are already full of footprints and coffee stains).   After all, timecards (timesheets) are entered into QuickBooks, save and file them. Do this even if you are using a 3rd party payroll processor. You may need to reference the information later.   Timecards should have the following - the more the detail, the better:   Company Name   Period Payroll Covers   Employee Name   Days of Week worked   Hours Worked with Start / Stop and lunch breaks   Total Regular Hours   Total Overtime Hours   Special Hours Quarterly tax returns for Washington State Employment Security and Washington State Labor & Industries cross-reference each other to review the same employee wage data in different ways.   Quarterly tax returns for Washington State Employment Security Quarterly Reports want employee wage detail, including:   Name   Social Security Numbers   Hours Worked   Gross Wages   Washington State Labor And Industries Wants Summary Data Including:   Labor code worked under   Total hours per classification   Total wages per classification   Washington State Labor And Industries set the rate for each contractor based on their experience rating.   Example of Washington State L&I Contractor Rates   It is always optional to take the employee deduction from employees paycheck based on risk classification worked. Taking more than allowed is not acceptable.   We recommend all construction company owners deduct the maximum allowed from each employee and bring it up early and often in your safety meetings because it helps them focus more attention on safety which helps lower overhead costs and benefits everyone. It is essential to understand the Psychology of Construction Field Employees. Click here for more.   Whenever any employee is requesting unemployment benefits, their request is...