Vacations Time during Shutdown for Exempt Employees

TBHRPRO

Due to a slow time in our business, our organization has decided to shutdown for a week. Can we force our exempt employees to take their vacation during this shutdown week? And also, if the exempt employee has already taken their vacation time, can the company dock their pay for the week? Please let me know how you interpret the law. Your help is appreciated. Thanks!

CuriousG

The FLSA does not require you to pay for a week in which no work is performed. You could inform you exempt employees that to be paid for the week of shut down they will need to use a week of vacation. This is standard practice in manufacturing where maintenance and retooling shut downs are common. If an employee does not have unused vacation available then you would be within your rights to "dock" them for the full week.

Keep in mind that if the shutdown were to last less than the full week, you would have to pay the exempt employees their full week's salary, regardless of the number of days/hours you were shut down during the partial week.