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Exempt employee hours
Benefits & Compensation
Exempt employee hours
Exchange ideas about health plans, retirement, work/life benefits, and employee assistance.
Here is the scenario...
An exempt employee is scheduled to work 9:00 - 5:00. Due to a personal issue, the employee comes in late and works 12:00 - 9:00 instead, to get their job done.
Can the ma
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Forums » Topic Forums » Benefits & Compensation » Exempt employee hours
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Exempt employee hours
posted at 4/8/2009 11:23 AM EDT
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Posts: 118
First: 2/28/2008 Last: 7/29/2011 |
Here is the scenario...
An exempt employee is scheduled to work 9:00 - 5:00. Due to a personal issue, the employee comes in late and works 12:00 - 9:00 instead, to get their job done. Can the manager require that they take PTO time for the 9:00 - 12:00 that they missed that morning? |
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Exempt employee hours
posted at 4/8/2009 4:40 PM EDT
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Posts: 3870
First: 2/12/2002 Last: 11/2/2009 |
The employee worked a full day in order to get the job done despite the personal issue. Hitting the employee with 3 hours of PTO would seem to penalize what appears to be an otherwise good employee. So why would you want to?
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Exempt employee hours
posted at 4/8/2009 4:48 PM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I agree with Nork, but what does the PTO policy state? And what state are you in? Most states/federal don't care about docking PTO as long as the exempt employee is getting paid for a full day. The only one I would be concerned about is California because their courts have gone back and forth over docking PTO for exempt employees.
Also think of it this way -- if you were this employee and worked the regular amount of hours on a wonky schedule for one day and got PTO docked, would you ever do that again? Next time, I would just leave at normal quitting time! At our company, we wouldn't dock PTO if the employee put in the extra hours. But that doesn't mean you couldn't or shouldn't....just that I don't think it is best business practice. |
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Exempt employee hours
posted at 4/9/2009 5:47 AM EDT
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Posts: 3870
First: 2/12/2002 Last: 11/2/2009 |
I think you might need to point out to the manager the difference between hourly and salaried employees. Hourly employees are paid for their time. Salaried employees are paid to do a job regardless of the time it takes.
In this case, it appears that the job was done. Penalizing the employee would be, IMO, inappropriate based on what you described. |
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Exempt employee hours
posted at 5/4/2009 8:07 AM EDT
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Posts: 37
First: 6/1/2001 Last: 5/4/2009 |
I just did a refresher on FLSA laws - if the employee is truly exempt, you cannot dock less than a full day of PTO, since exempt employees are not required to report their hours.
If you are requiring this employee to report their daily hours, you may want to double-check their FLSA exemption status.... |
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Exempt employee hours
posted at 5/4/2009 10:08 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Fairness or not, it comes back to federal and state law and what is allows.
Most states allow for PTO docking (even in partial day increments). PTO is NOT covered under FLSA beyond requiring a bonafide sick plan to dock exempts for sick days. The only thing covered under FLSA is that the WAGES can't be docked for partial days missed. California is one of the few states that changes its mind on this depending on the court cases. Most other states follow company policy. Here is a really good article discussing this issue based on the following DOL Opinion Letter: http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/opinion/FLSA/2005/2005_01_07_7_FLSA_PaidTimeOff.pdf "...The recent Opinion Letter issued by DOL indicates that an employer may reduce an exempt employees accrued PTO hours for either partial, or full day, absences. Such reduction may be made, provided that the employer has an established benefit plan (vacation, sick leave, or PTO plan). Also, the reduction in the accrued PTO hours must not result in a reduction of the employees guaranteed salary for the week in which the hours are reduced. Payment of the employees salary must be made for a partial-day absence for personal reasons or sickness or accident even if the employee has no more vacation, sick leave or PTO hours remaining, and even if there is a negative balance in the employees PTO account.[5] An employer may not reduce an employees final salary to make up for an employees taking more paid time off than the employee had accrued. Deductions for such purposes may result in an employer making delayed deductions for partial day absences and otherwise violating the salary pay rule..." |
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Exempt employee hours
posted at 5/4/2009 10:12 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
And in a separate DOL opinion letter, the DOL stated that it is legal to track exempt employees by the hour without jeopardizing the exemption:
http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/opinion/FLSA/2006/2006_03_10_06_FLSA.pdf "In a March 10, 2006, opinion letter (FLSA 2006-6), the Department of Labor (DOL) confirmed that an employer can require exempt employees to record hours worked without jeopardizing their exempt status. "As the preamble to the final rule explains, an employer may require an exempt employee to do things such as to record and track hours and to work a specified schedule without affecting the employee's exempt status," the DOL stated. " |
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Exempt employee hours
posted at 5/7/2009 6:21 AM EDT
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Posts: 31
First: 10/28/2008 Last: 7/8/2011 |
To follow onto Rupert's comments, FLSA has no governance of PTO and what can or can't be docked. It only applies to wages.
However, I find it very hard to believe that a manager would want to deduct from an employee's PTO for working a varying schedule, esp. if they are putting in the same amount of hours. Further, if you start down this path, my thought would be that anytime someone works a flexible schedule (other than the 9 - 5) you would have to deduct from their PTO as accordingly. Otherwise, you could be opening yourself up to a discrimination suit. Just my opinion, I am by no means a qualified source of legal counsel |
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