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Non-Exempt EE on payroll in MA state
Benefits & Compensation
Non-Exempt EE on payroll in MA state
Exchange ideas about health plans, retirement, work/life benefits, and employee assistance.
Hello,
Does anyone know how to proceed in the following situation:
A non-exempt employee is hired in March at a company from MA state that has payroll on a semi-monthly basis.
"...Massachusetts
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Forums » Topic Forums » Benefits & Compensation » Non-Exempt EE on payroll in MA state
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Non-Exempt EE on payroll in MA state
posted at 4/6/2009 5:43 AM EDT
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Posts: 59
First: 9/5/2008 Last: 9/4/2009 |
Hello,
Does anyone know how to proceed in the following situation: A non-exempt employee is hired in March at a company from MA state that has payroll on a semi-monthly basis. "...Massachusetts law governs how frequently employees must be paid, yet many employers find that they have inadvertently violated these rules. Under Massachusetts law all non-exempt employees must be paid at least weekly or biweekly (every two weeks) and within six days of the end of the pay period during which wages were earned. Employers who instead pay their employees only twice a month violate these rules in two ways: by paying less frequently than biweekly, and by failing to pay within six days of the end of the pay period." I am wondering how to go about having one person on a different pay cycle than the rest...seems an administrative burden... |
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Non-Exempt EE on payroll in MA state
posted at 4/6/2009 9:08 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Are there other non-exempts? It would be strange to only have one. Or are the rest of your employees not in MA.
I don't know anything about MA wage laws specifically so I am going by what you posted...that is yes, you would be out of compliance if you pay a non-exempt semi-monthly. That said...here are a couple of solutions: (1) Lobby to change the payroll frequency for ALL employees to biweekly for all employees in MA. You are correct that it would be an admin burden to have two different payroll frequencies -- especially if it is for a small company. (2) Another choice could be to have that non-exempt employee leased through a staffing company that could pay biweekly -- however you would have to pay some type of fees to do so. |
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Non-Exempt EE on payroll in MA state
posted at 4/7/2009 9:29 AM EDT
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Posts: 59
First: 9/5/2008 Last: 9/4/2009 |
Thank you.
But i found some conflicting info: excerpt from the MA Wage and Labor Law: In addition to laws governing how much employees must be paid, Massachusetts law also governs the timing of wage payments. Employers must pay hourly employees either weekly or bi-weekly. Salaried employees can be paid weekly; biweekly; semimonthly; or, at an employees own option, monthly. Our non-exempt EE is salaried and by reading the above, do you think it's safe to conclude that she can be paid semi-monthly? |
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Non-Exempt EE on payroll in MA state
posted at 4/7/2009 9:47 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Yes I do think you would be okay, but then you must follow whatever "salaried" laws that MA has -- that is, do they have rules on deductions from pay for non-worked time (to mimic federal FLSA exempt deductions)? And you would still owe overtime if the salaried non-exempt employee worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.
From my favorite payroll-tax site: "What if the employee works less than the expected number of hours during the workweek? In some cases there could be problems because in some states if an employee is paid a salary, his salary cannot be reduced if he works less than the expected number of hours. He is treated the same as an exempt employee. In those states the only way an employer can avoid paying the employee who works less than the expected number of hours is to make the employee an hourly employee. So employers must be aware of what state law permits." http://www.payroll-taxes.com/articles/salariesGeneral.html I do have a friend on another board who would know more about this topic (especially MA)....if you email me at resumehr2007 at gmail dot com, I will pass on the name of that forum. |
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Non-Exempt EE on payroll in MA state
posted at 4/7/2009 9:47 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Yes I do think you would be okay, but then you must follow whatever "salaried" laws that MA has -- that is, do they have rules on deductions from pay for non-worked time (to mimic federal FLSA exempt deductions)? And you would still owe overtime if the salaried non-exempt employee worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.
From my favorite payroll-tax site: "What if the employee works less than the expected number of hours during the workweek? In some cases there could be problems because in some states if an employee is paid a salary, his salary cannot be reduced if he works less than the expected number of hours. He is treated the same as an exempt employee. In those states the only way an employer can avoid paying the employee who works less than the expected number of hours is to make the employee an hourly employee. So employers must be aware of what state law permits." http://www.payroll-taxes.com/articles/salariesGeneral.html I do have a friend on another board who would know more about this topic (especially MA)....if you email me at resumehr2007 at gmail dot com, I will pass on the name of that forum. |
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