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Discuss employment-law issues such as family leave, overtime, disabilities law, harassment, immigration and termination.
Employees are contracted out to clients and work on-site at the clients' location. Although they are unquestionably exempt employees (I've checked the FLSA test) we request time sheets so that we will
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Another question

posted at 8/9/1999 11:41 PM EDT
Posts: 399
First: 6/21/1999
Last: 9/14/2005
Employees are contracted out to clients and work on-site at the clients' location. Although they are unquestionably exempt employees (I've checked the FLSA test) we request time sheets so that we will know how to bill the clients; also for FMLA and 401k purposes. Their pay is in no way based on their time sheets, and that is the problem. Since they know they will get paid whether or not they turn the sheets in, they frequently do not turn them in. Yet I am expected to be able to tell them how much vacation time or sick time they have taken. As the new HR Manager, I have been given the task of tightening up this issue. They are paid a base salary, plus a project bonus which is paid out in each paycheck, rather than upon completion of the project. Their contract does not state how the bonus will be paid. I know I cannot hold back their base pay, but can I legally hold back their project bonus until their time sheets come in? If not, does anyone have any suggestions how I can convince them of the importance of turning in their time sheets, when their pay is not based on them? Thanks for any suggestions.

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posted at 8/10/1999 2:32 AM EDT
Posts: 833
First: 6/11/1999
Last: 8/23/2001
Their pay may not be based on the sheets, but their employment may. A required part of the job is the correct recordskeeping - if you can't maintain the records, we can't maintain your employment.

And if the bonus is predicated on the completion of the project, and is paid over and over the agreed-upon salary, I can see nothing wrong with considering the project unfinished until all the records are in, including the timesheets.



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posted at 8/11/1999 8:18 PM EDT
Posts: 2217
First: 6/16/1999
Last: 12/13/2001
As Jim suggests, consider failure to complete time sheets as a performance issue; modify (and distribute) your existing policies to the extent necessary to make it clear that you will do so in the future, even if this has not been done in the past. Then enforce the policy, as necessary. Your employees need to understand that while they may not like filling out time sheets (in my experience, not many people do!), they are an integral part of the job, for many of the reasons you have mentioned.

With regard to the bonus, my only caveat to Jim's response is the extent to which you are obligated to pay the bonus, regardless of the failure to complete the time sheets, by your own policies and/or practices.

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