I was able to find out that the switch is working as intended and that the time settings are not designed to make saved through reloads. The clock setting is dynamic based on when you set it and reloading loses that. 
I have 2 PowerConnect M8024-k blade switches in a stack configuration (although this issue was also occurring without the stack).  I am setting the clock manually with the clock set commands, but every time I reload the switches, the clock settings are completely lost. I'm saving the config before reload of course. I'm not using any SNTP, I'm just simply setting manual local time. Is there a solution to this? 
PowerConnect M8024-k switches losing clock settings upon reboot