Leave Deductions for Exempt Employees
jmcaa
224 Posts
I would like to know if there is a regulation regarding Exempt Employees use of Leave Time. When an Exempt Employees takes off part of a day, we would like to charge those hours to Leave Time, but still pay the employee the same salary. If the Exempt Employee does not have any Leave Time left, employee would still receive their salary.
We set up job numbers. Some of the numbers are for overhead work. We have a job number for General Office Work, Promotional Work, Leave Time Used, Holiday, and Extra Salary Time Off.
Example: Exempt employee works every day M-TR 8 hours, then works 4 hours Friday. We would put the other 4 hours against his Leave time.
Can we do this without jeopardizing his Exempt Status?
Thanks!
We set up job numbers. Some of the numbers are for overhead work. We have a job number for General Office Work, Promotional Work, Leave Time Used, Holiday, and Extra Salary Time Off.
Example: Exempt employee works every day M-TR 8 hours, then works 4 hours Friday. We would put the other 4 hours against his Leave time.
Can we do this without jeopardizing his Exempt Status?
Thanks!
Comments
"If you have a bona fide practice of substituting leave time for partial days absences, then once the leave bucket is empty you do not have to continue full salary. You would only pay for time worked until sufficient leave time is restored."
In fact, the US DOL has made it very clear in those Opinion letters that if the employee is out of the appropriate paid accrued time with which to charge for the partial day's absence, the employer MUST still pay the full salary for the day if the employee has worked any part of that week.
I was told during a recent audit that, although the practice of partial-day deductions is not permitted for exempt employees under the FLSA, it's something they rarely go after. The auditor said that even the DOL feels employers should not be required to pay employees for not working.
The practice itself is not illegal, but rather will threaten the exempt status of those in the position thereby opening you up to back pay for any O/T worked in last 2-3 years.
It also is an issue proposed for revision in the new regs currently under review.
My 30+ years in HR has been very successful by staying out of those issues that are not important for me to be concerned; this is one that is brought on by "busy bodies" or "payroll clerk" who has not received my very clear guidance. Time clocks/time keeping are for the non-exempt, who are protected by Federal Law and need our HR attention to keep the company and the labor force from going UNION! I keep management informed of the Federal and State Laws and advise my partners on how to command but I do not take their place.
I hope this wisdom will help you and others! PORK
My question is still unanswered. Is there a DOL Opinion, etc. which would stop us from charging part of their time off to leave time, without making any deductions from their pay.
Exempt works 5 hours one day, charges the 5 hours to a job number, we want to charge the other 3 hours to leave time.
Thank you all for your input. It is appreciated!
The repayment of the EXEMPT'S personal time is, likewise, included in the vacation benefit; but the extra hours spent by the EXEMPT ee's personal time is paid back with company graditude, promotions, challenges, special projects, special recognition for a job well done, etc,etc.
Trying to charge an EXEMPT employee for an hour here and an hour there can not be done, it is not compatible, unless you are also going to make provisions for front pay of the "minute here or hour there" or the time I spend nightly with the mental gears running to find the answer to a company issue, or the nights I'm called out to investigate and vehicle accident, or answer the alarm for the facility that has an errant fire alarm buzzing, or the time that the police find the door crashed in from vandals. Or how about the night that my wife and I had to spend entertaining at our expense guest of the company because it was our time, not our choice, but "our time".
Come on, GET THE ISSUE OUT OF COMMITTEE, IT IS MIS PLACED! Give it back to the mis-informed, negative attitude, busy body clerk, that thinks we are equal! It ain't so!!! 32 years I've been in this world of EXEMPT HRs, and your committee goal is oriented toward the socialist view of the world of work; we are equal and and all must be equally treated. Turn that issue in and draw another to spend good time upon! Pork
>Employees use of Leave Time. When an Exempt Employees takes off part
>of a day, we would like to charge those hours to Leave Time, but still
>pay the employee the same salary. If the Exempt Employee does not have
>any Leave Time left, employee would still receive their salary.
>
>We set up job numbers. Some of the numbers are for overhead work. We
>have a job number for General Office Work, Promotional Work, Leave
>Time Used, Holiday, and Extra Salary Time Off.
>
>Example: Exempt employee works every day M-TR 8 hours, then works 4
>hours Friday. We would put the other 4 hours against his Leave time.
>
>Can we do this without jeopardizing his Exempt Status?
>
>Thanks!
jmcaa: Sorry, but I still disagree and "Dandy Don", did not answer your question, there is most certainly Federal Law and I recommend you consider it clearly, under the "PART 541" DEFINATIONS AND TERMS FOR EXEMPTS>...
My comments were provided in good faith that you wanted to ensure there were no laws... there is as stated above. Again, I would recommend that you consider your example, as stated fits your design for a predetermined outcome. I am an EXEMPT ee, who reports to work every day M-F and sometimes on Sat/Sun. My hours are dictated by me, but under your example, I can only count my working hours from 8-5 with a one hour lunch break for your employee bank. When in fact, I am here daily from 7:00 AM or earlier last week on two days due to an accident, with a 30 minute lunch break, which was 15 minutes yesterday because I had an ee who needed me for a HR question. Tuesday of this week the President of the company was here for his weekly visit. Our discussion went until after 6:00 PM. My lunch breaks are normally 30 minutes or less in our kitchen! Yesterday, my company car was in trouble, I had to take it to the company garage for them to work on it; we were there until after 7:30. The mechanic was marking time as I helped him work on the car. As you can see, you can not compare my hours worked for the company with those of the President or the clerks who were long since gone after work at 5 PM and who's hours did not start until the majic hour of 8:00AM.
Now, when you set up your bank there must be a means, if you want equality and to treat the EXEMPT ee's hours the same, you must be prepared to also give me credit for the hours over 40 provided to the company as loyality given to the company in good faith. Oh, and these banking hours need to also compute these banking O/T hours as 1 1/2 times,when I exceed 40 on Wed or Thursday. Our computer program "for hours worked" also accounts for our NON-EXEMPT overtime hours worked in banking hours earned for vacation pay and FMLA computations.
Enough said on this subject, I still do not recommend your action to attempt equal banking unless, you have a means of given EXEMPT ee credit for additional hours worked beyond the 40 hour work week or beyond the 8 hours per day! The hours banked under your example are not comparable!
PORK
>that has been there and done that, treating EXEMPTS as equal in any
>comparsion to NON-EXEMPT HOURS is mis-placed guidance!!! May you also
>have a great and blessed day! Pork
Pork: If you are suggesting that I recommended (quoting you) "treating EXEMPTS as equal in any comparison to NON-EXEMPT HOURS is misplaced guidance!!!", I must say I don't know where your medication is, but please take it! I will say to you again that there is no federal law, or in YOUR case, Mississippi law, addressing an employer's right to establish or not establish a practice and policy of leave banks or the taking of time from a leave balance, or in what increments leave banks may be charged for hours missed. If you will go back and read the original question, you will see that it has nothing at all to do with your notions about treating exempts and non-exempts alike and has nothing to do with how many hours people work or when people come in and leave for the day. We're talking about federal and state law here. We are not talking about reducing one's pay or docking one's pay. The question was one of law and federal law as well as the laws of your state are silent in regard to an employer's right to grant and monitor sick leave, vacation, personal leave and annual leave. If you will check with your local Employment Security Office, you will find that they also charge sick and vacation leaves by the hour with both exempts and non-exempts, as do a variety of employers throughout your state. When that is done, the pay does not vary; however, the accounting column to which the pay is charged does. What's for lunch? x:-)
A HR committee can be very dangerous, when they are put into the policy making or benefit business without a strong and knowing HR advisor or business attorney also involved from the get go! Been there and done that, the posting as written would not work in our company, and in our state, we do not hold the line on 40 hour work weeks. Until I got here the non-exempt ee was allowed to sell his/her vacation hours and was forced to receive a pay out for sick time. The EXEMPT just simply lost it or used it, catch as catch can, and when they left the company, we paid out whatever sick time and vacation time the EXEMPT said we owed. We do pay out sick time to NON-EXEMPTS, every year because it is recorded in the payroll computer program. We do not pay out sick time to the EXEMPT because we do not keep records of minutes and hours worked NOR MINUTES AND HOURS OFF DURING WORKING TIME DAY OR NIGHT, IT DOES NOT MATTER TO US!. We do keep manual and paper record of EXEMPT VACATION TIME AWARDED AND USED, BY THE WEEKS AND DAYS USED. The accounting manager has been gone for two days and I just found out today. Does it matter to HR, or the bank that she and the General Manager / President owner? Heck no, unless there is an FMLA issue that might arise from her absences. JMCAA, good luck with your bank, I still advise you to understand there is very interesting dialogue on-going here and take it or leave it. "Dandy Don" see you at the funeral of "Ole Reb"! Now back to work, so I can bank some real work hours for my company, ya'll eat more pork out there, now.
PORK
It has been working for us, we feel that we are still in compliance with the regulations for exempts, and we feel that there is not an abuse of this policy.