Death, Taxes and Time Cards. No, time cards are really not that bad, but time cards are not going to go away and they are a critical piece of information required in the apprentice program. Here are several reasons to make filling out a time card a priority. Failure to fill out a time card does come with penalties. First you will forfeit a stipend check from your next day school session. Second, time cards allow us to see if the hours reported by your contractor match the hours you are working. This helps identify any errors and may prevent an untimely reclassification. Third, time cards are required by the Dept. of Labor for apprenticeships and identity the type of work you are doing on the job.
Time Cards in TradeSchool require a little attention to detail.
There is never a reason you should not fill out a time card. You are required to fill out time cards from the time you are indentured to the time you top out of the apprenticeship. You are indentured when you start to work at apprentice scale on the job, this is normally after your Phase 1 orientation meeting. You top out when you start to work at Journeyman scale on the job. This is normally after graduation but could be delayed if you have penalties or are behind on hours. While you are earning apprentice scale you are an apprentice and need to fill out a time card. The time card contains categories for tracking hours even if those hours are not work hours. If you would normally be at work you need to account for those hours. If you go on vacation, are on medical leave of absence, are unemployed or otherwise not working you are still tracking those hours on your time card. You will see categories for these situations at the bottom of the time sheet. Hours you work on the job are recorded in rows on the time card corresponding to the task you were performing. Filling out a time card incorrectly can have the same negative consequences of not submitting a time card. We need accurate and timely information.
In the apprentice tab of your TradeSchool account you will see Hours. You will select the Pending tab to work on a time card you have not submitted. You are not able to work on two months at the same time. If you are fill out your time card for a past month complete this task and then fill out the current month. The time card does not associate information you enter with a particular month until you submit the card. Jumping between months will scramble your hours. Work on only one month at a time.
You can enter hours into a time card every day, once a week or at the end of a month. Each time you enter hours you need to save the time card. When the time card is complete, and you have reviewed the hours, submit the time card. When the time card is submitted it is not available for edits. If you submit a time card with errors, you will need to contact the JATC. The incorrect time card will be deleted and the apprentice will need to enter all the hours again. Do not estimate how many hours you will work and fill our time card out in advance. We will not accept time cards submitted before the end of the month. Time cards are due on the 7th of the month. Your time card for May would be due June 7th.
To help in completing a time card we have created a short video. Please use this as a reference: Time Card Video