Socorro City’s commission approved updates to the city’s time and attendance policy (C-O1) on Nov. 24, adopting clarified procedures tied to new payroll software and operational needs.

The HR director said the policy clarifies a previously informal 5-minute grace period and broadens timekeeping options for employees with city-issued phones. She described the Paycom rollout that includes iPad stations for punching in and said employees who must go directly to a job site may use a missed-punch correction process later.

"With the implementation of our new payroll software program ... including identifying the 5 minute grace period," the HR director said, noting the changes were intended to "promote accuracy and accountability." She explained contingency procedures if the system goes down: a manual missed-punch report that employees can submit so time can be corrected.

HR described on-call pay rules: employees on call receive one hour of pay on weekdays and two hours per weekend day they are on call; if they are called in and clocked in they receive overtime for the time worked. Commissioners raised concerns about field crews and heavy-equipment operators and whether alternative punch options would work; HR said supervisors can accommodate mispunches and the system supports individual logins when a city phone is used to punch in for another employee.

A motion to approve Item 9 as written passed by roll call; Commissioners Albert Ortiz, Carlos Ortiz, Alex Miranda and Claudia Olmos voted yes.