u/BussyApocalypse

I work for a personal injury law firm in Chicago ironically given this question and the policy for all employees, hourly and salaried (I’m hourly), is we clock in at 8:45 or we are late, but aren’t officially paid until 9. The schedule is 8:45-5 officially.

I’ve been at the firm for 4 years. I thought this was a bizarre practice but rolled with it cause “surely a law firm like this does its due diligence, right?”.

But I did take the coming in on time aspect lightly sometimes. I have ADHD and time blindness so although I would routinely be there 8:45 or earlier even (like as early as 8:30 in the best of times), I would also be there after 8:45, usually between 8:46-8:51, but in the worst of times but seldom….8:58-8:59.

For context. I am a paralegal who was working full time while going to law school part time the past 4 years. I’m finally done and graduated, but fuck I was exhausted this past week with finals AFTER WORK. And my inconsistent time patterns the past 4 years finally caught up with me on HR end (dubious timing though given I will need some leave to prepare for the bar soon and my boss has been suggesting nudging me out in various ways). My manager, a lawyer btw, made a rookie mistake with my other two managers from an HR and lawyer perspective lol. They warned me HR would be sending a formal PIP for tardiness. But they didn’t have the HR rep with them nor did she send it in conjunction with their notice.

This gave me an opening to do what I hinted at doing many times as an ADA protected employee who notified them of this in 2023 and who requested accommodations at law school for tests and even for the bar in IL many times. I sent a formal ADA request for accommodations of a flexible 15 minute window so I could be in between 8:45-9 before HR could send the PIP. It’s safe to say they were caught off guard on that and now she’s consulting the employment attorney.

But I dug in more with this requirement for clocking in given we aren’t paid for the first 15 min we are clocked in. It’s literally deducted. Everything I’ve researched tells me it’s illegal to have unpaid “15 minute breaks”, like this, especially federally. In Illinois, it was I guess murkier until this year with Johnson v. Amazon at the IL Supreme Court.

So help me confirm…does HR not only have a headache with my accommodations l request, but a potential to pay out lost wages from wage theft from specifically non-exempt HOURLY paid employees at my work, or were they as ironclad about this system as I assumed.

Edit: let me clarify after reading employee handbook again it’s counted as “they pay first 45 minutes of hour lunch then the next 15 are unpaid”.