I'm assuming you are running on a *nix what does the command date return? How are you setting your system clock? and what is /etc/localtime symbolicaly linked to?
No unfortunately I don't have the luxury here at work to get to use Nix, I'm on MSWin32, using ActiveState perl, v5.8.4, my system clock and BIOS Clock are both correct, and my regional settings are set to United States