Forums
Changing Management Position from Salary to Hourly
Legal Forum
Changing Management Position from Salary to Hourly
Discuss employment-law issues such as family leave, overtime, disabilities law, harassment, immigration and termination.
Can we legally move a key management position from salary to hourly without changing job description, job title or duties? Are there any better options for furlough?
0
Cat:Topic ForumsForum:ForumId54
Cat:Topic ForumsForum:ForumId54Discussion:DiscussionId36936
Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Changing Management Position from Salary to Hourly
|
Changing Management Position from Salary to Hourly
posted at 3/10/2011 6:27 AM EST
|
Posts: 2
First: 3/10/2011 Last: 3/10/2011 |
We are experiencing low census and thus do not have enough work for the full time RNs that we have working. We do not have any intermittent/part-time RNs. The RN manager (Director of Health Services) would like to cut her own hours rather than decrease,lay off or risk losing current RN staff. Her recommendation was to change her pay status from salary to hourly and then decrease her hours from 40 to 32/wk. She would give some of her nonmanagement tasks to FT RNs to fill their time due to their lack of work due to low census. If census increases, she would increase her hours as necessary. |
|
|
Changing Management Position from Salary to Hourly
posted at 3/10/2011 6:50 AM EST
|
|
Posts: 45
First: 1/13/2011 Last: 4/14/2011 |
I think your short term solution, while perfectly legal, has greater risk than you think.
This is what can happen. So you reduce wages and time to 32 hours. At some point this "Director" will work 41, 42, 43 etc hours. That means possibly time and one half for all hours over 40 (there are ways around that but it isn't part of the conversation). So now, to avoid OT, you want to convert them back. Only the incumbent, seeing the lost income potential says "foul." You may lose that argument. Transferring management duties to other staff can also create job classification issues for the future. I don't know enough about the situation or your organization. I do know health care. Consequently I'd recommend going back to the drawing board and finding another solution. Or determining how real the issue really is. |
|
|
Changing Management Position from Salary to Hourly
posted at 3/14/2011 8:50 AM EDT
|
|
Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Another solution is to keep her exempt salary and just prorate her salary to 80% of normal. You do have to take care that she is above the minimum exempt weekly salary -- that can NOT get prorated. And you do have to consider what happens in weeks where she works MORE than 32 hours....but not in an Overtime calculation....
There is nothing in the law that requires an exempt employee to work a 40 hour week. Just a minimum pay. Of course if she is truly working more than normal, you might get into some burnout/frustration issues. I agree that I would strongly suggest NOT changing this to an hourly position. The other thing to consider is benefits and how a decrease in hours/pay affects her 401k, health/dental etc. (p.s. I am in in exactly this situation. I am an exempt who works a 30 hour a week schedule. My salary compensates me for an average of 30 hours per week. Are there weeks I have worked 50+? Sure! But I truly do stick to 25-35 most weeks, just as those that work 40 stick to 35-45 most weeks.) |
|
|
Changing Management Position from Salary to Hourly
posted at 3/14/2011 9:09 AM EDT
|
|
Posts: 45
First: 1/13/2011 Last: 4/14/2011 |
There are potential issues with rruperts solution. Basically you can't fluctuate the wage based upon the volume of the work. That doesn't mean you cannot do it, but it does mean you can't do it this month, and then change it again next month and then change it again, etc. |
|
|
Changing Management Position from Salary to Hourly
posted at 3/15/2011 5:35 AM EDT
|
|
Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Agreed that you would not want to adjust the salary often, but it is doable as long as the company expects it to last more than just a short period of time. (I'm going on 6 years at this rate/hours)
What you do NOT want to do is to change it back and forth willy nilly only to the employERs advantage. I could easily see a wage claim made that you were treating her as a non-exempt if you do so. |
Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Changing Management Position from Salary to Hourly
