Shut-Downs and vacation

Dan

Can a business require salaried exempt employees to use their vacation if the business closes down for a week?

Shadowfax

So long as the week is a pay period. Keep in mind the rule for paying exempts for any pay period in which any work is done (except for full days for personal reasons). I'm not sure you really wanted to force them to use vacation, or to say that if they would be paid they could use vacation for it.

Whatever

We close the factories every year during Christmas-New Year week. Salaried exempt ees know that this a vacation week for them.

AJ SPHR

Agree with poster above - worked for a company that shut down every year between Christmas and New Years (full week) and required exempt employees to cover time with remaining vacation time. If no time remaining, they could take it without pay and sign up for unemployment. The only caution is that if any of the exempt employees work during that week, then they must be paid for the entire week. So employees who have no vacation time remaining and need to work one of the days will have to be paid in full for the entire week.

Carey

It may be a CA law, but we also have to notify employees 9 months in advance if requiring them to use their vacation pay. You may have some state specific requirements.

Shadowfax

Carey - is that a typo? Did you mean 9 minutes? I think the rest of the nation should petition for partition of Ca. Iknow you guys get a lot of grief from the rest of us, and it is always (well, almost always) meant in good fun, but how on earth can a manufacturing co know 9 months in advance of a week shutdown? Unbelievable!

Carey

No, I meant 9 months, but that's just to require employees to use vacation pay. We can have a shut-down, and if it's an entire week, employees can choose to use vacation or take it unpaid.

We do have special challenges out here. I just choose to think of it as job security.

Dan

Thanks for all of the input.

And just for information: Idaho is one of the most Employer friendly statess in the nation.

Don D

While we're questioning posts, I think Shadowfax meant to say a work week, rather than a pay period. A pay period could be a month long. If a salaried person performs no work during a work week, the employer is not by law required to pay him/her. If the company shuts down for a vacation/maintenance week, the employer would not be required to pay the exempt,salaried employee and he could either take vacation or receive no pay. This practice, although highly unusual and rare, might still occur and would be allowed.