Pay Exempt Employee on Disciplinary Leave?

njjel

An exempt employee has been placed on leave while an investigation is being made into certain allegations. Are we obligated by law to pay her for this time?

Michelle1070

I had to research this same thing the other day, and what I came up with is, NO. It's pretty much impossible to dock an exempt-salaried employees pay without them losing their exempt status.
I hope this helps

Hatchetman

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-10-02 AT 03:19PM (CST)[/font][p]Assuming that there is nothing in your state law that provides a more "favorable" approach for an exempt employee, FLSA doesn't speak to the length of suspensions directly EXCEPT for it specifically permiting unpaid suspensions of any length for an exempt employee's violation of major safety rules without loss of the exempt status.

I mention state laws because, in 1999, a California regulation was issued prohibiting an employer from suspending without pay an exempt employee for anything less than full month increments. Shortly after promulgating that regulation, the California Department of Industrial Relations withdrew it for further consideration (they had employers complaining right and left on that) and it hasn't re-surfaced.

HOWEVER, there is a common approach that has been taken by many employers, based upon a general provision in the FLSA regulations. The regulations do say that, generally, for any week in which an exempt employee performs NO work, the exempt employee does not need to be paid. Thus, the way many employers look at it, the exempt employee can be suspended (for reasons not related to major safety violations), without pay, in full workweek increments, without loss of the exempt status (as long as you don't let the exempt emplyee work at all during the workweek). Somewhere in the back of my mind, I think DOL, Wage and Hour Division, has acquiesced to that, but for the life of me I can't prove it to be a formal position.