Evidence architecture

A record is not
the proposition.

Records gain meaning when the dates, employee, pay period, workweek, transaction, and legal question are aligned. A timestamp can contradict a timecard without proving every minute between them.

Seven evidence domains

What this record cannot establish alone

The limit column is as important as the proof column. It prevents a clean payroll statement, isolated system event, or written plan from carrying an inference it cannot support.

Verify the inference

Record classes and inferential limits

E01

Time proof

Raw punches and edit audit trail
Schedules, meal punches, attestations, and waivers

Can establish: Recorded work intervals, facial meal timing, schedule expectations, and who changed a punch for a stated reason.
Cannot establish alone: The complete span of controlled or suffered-permitted work, off-clock activity, or whether an authorized rest was actually provided.

E02

System activity

DMS, CRM, repair-order, OEM training, access, and alarm timestamps
Messages, email, phone, device, and workstation events

Can establish: Activity at identified points, sequence, employer knowledge, regularity, and potential contradictions in the scheduled or recorded day.
Cannot establish alone: Continuous work between events, the legal character of every interval, or the amount of uncompensated time without a reasonable inferential method.

E03

Output and transaction proof

Flag ledger, repair orders, parts tickets, and warranty events
Deal jackets, delivery, funding, cancellation, return, and reversal records

Can establish: Units produced, transactions, attribution, timing, identified reversals, and the output or deal events used by a pay formula.
Cannot establish alone: All hours worked, whether a component is legally a commission or piece rate, or whether a debit from pay is permitted.

E04

Pay proof

Payroll register, wage statements, earning codes, and rate tables
Draw reconciliations, bonus or spiff tables, premiums, and later true-ups

Can establish: Amounts paid, dates, rates and codes used, statement presentation, reconciliations, and changes between original and later payroll.
Cannot establish alone: Whether missing work occurred, whether every payment was correctly classified, or whether a written earning condition is valid and satisfied.

E05

Plan proof

Signed commission plan, receipt, effective versions, and amendments
Piece-rate or incentive formula, policies, guarantees, and deduction terms

Can establish: The promised pay unit, written earning condition, formula, effective version, receipt, and stated treatment of advances or later events.
Cannot establish alone: Actual practice, actual duties, complete hours, whether a condition occurred, or whether a term satisfies every applicable wage rule.

E06

Establishment and duty proof

Legal entities, dealer or franchise connection, business activity and sales records
Job descriptions, actual-duty samples, schedules, and time allocation

Can establish: Facts used to select a wage order, retail-establishment status, dealership status, employer identity, and duty-based exemption route.
Cannot establish alone: Pay accuracy for a period, the regular rate, hours worked, or whether the written job description matches actual work.

E07

Expense proof

Required-item inventory, policies, receipts, mileage, device, and subscription records
Reimbursement calculations, payment lines, apprentice status, and employee earnings

Can establish: What the work required, employee expenditure, amount, reimbursement method, earnings threshold, item category, and payment made.
Cannot establish alone: Whether an expense was legally necessary or whether a wage-order hand-tool exception applies without direction, item, establishment, and earnings facts.

Reconciliation protocol

Match first. Infer second.

01Normalize identity
Map employee, entity, location, department, pay code, repair order, and deal identifiers across systems.
02Normalize time
Fix the workday, workweek, pay period, earning period, transaction date, and effective plan version before comparison.
03Preserve raw data
Keep exports, metadata, edit histories, formulas, and later corrections; a screenshot is a view, not the underlying audit trail.
04Test both directions
Identify corroboration and contradiction. Search for records that would disprove the working account, not only those that support it.
05State the inference limit
Separate what the packet establishes, what it suggests, what it cannot decide, and which missing record would resolve the gap.

Role packets

Assemble around the question.

These are starting packets, not universal discovery lists. Expand by entity, period, pay component, asserted route, and disputed activity.

T01

Technician

Raw time and edits; schedules; repair orders; flag ledger; training and warranty events; pay register and statements; written production formula; tool and expense records.

C02

Commissioned sales

Signed plan versions; CRM and schedule activity; deal jackets; gross and pack detail; delivery, funding and cancellation events; draw ledger; transaction debits; pay and statement detail.

A03

Service advisor

Lane schedules; raw time; repair orders; customer contacts; labor, parts and CSI components; plan versions; establishment facts; pay registers and statements.

F04

Finance & insurance

Actual-duty samples; deal and product detail; funding and cancellation events; plan and guarantee; representative-period analysis; time, draw, chargeback and pay records.

S05

Parts & support

Entity and vendor relationships; actual duties and control; schedules and time; system activity; incentive unit; expenses; pay register; statements; applicable establishment facts.