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Changing an employee from exempt to non-exempt
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Changing an employee from exempt to non-exempt
Discuss employment-law issues such as family leave, overtime, disabilities law, harassment, immigration and termination.
We have an exempt employee who has been out with a serious illness on an intermittent basis for several months. His attendance varies from missing a day or two a week to missing full weeks at a time.
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Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Changing an employee from exempt to non-exempt
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Changing an employee from exempt to non-exempt
posted at 7/7/2009 10:44 AM EDT
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Posts: 11
First: 9/23/2008 Last: 9/14/2010 |
We have an exempt employee who has been out with a serious illness on an intermittent basis for several months. His attendance varies from missing a day or two a week to missing full weeks at a time. We are keeping up with this time under FMLA. We do not want to terminate his employment, however we cannot continue to pay him full salary when he is not here. My questions is, can we change him to a non-exempt employee and pay him hourly? |
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Changing an employee from exempt to non-exempt
posted at 7/7/2009 12:50 PM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
If the absences are FMLA related, you can just dock his salary for them. That is one of the few reasons that you can do so.
If you do change, one thing you need to be careful of is that this is a "permanent" change. The DOL/FLSA don't like employers flipping back and forth to the advantage of the employer. But it is always legal to change an employee from exempt to non-exempt and to pay hourly. Just be careful if and when you want to change back to exempt. |
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Changing an employee from exempt to non-exempt
posted at 7/7/2009 1:56 PM EDT
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Posts: 1103
First: 3/16/2007 Last: 8/19/2011 |
I would not make the change to non-exempt as it could have significantly adverse impact on your ability to legitimately change it back later.
Rrupert gives you probably the best course of action. |
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Changing an employee from exempt to non-exempt
posted at 7/8/2009 2:36 AM EDT
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Posts: 245
First: 2/5/2003 Last: 10/7/2009 |
The FMLA allows employers to "dock" an exempt employees pay for hours missed without jeopardizing their exempt status. This is explicitly spelled out in the regulations. In this situation, you are not changing his status as exempt. If you do choose to change his status, on a permanent basis, you may do so but if it is simply due to his missing work that is covered under the FMLA, I would not recommend changing his permanent status, just dock his pay accordingly. |
Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Changing an employee from exempt to non-exempt
