Exempt & Partial Leave Days

soloflyer

How does one track an exempt ee's time out of the office for drs' appts, etc. if FLSA says that we can't keep timesheets on them? We have a sick leave and PTO policy but I am having trouble keeping track of the exempts other than full days out of the office.

lorrie

You CAN keep timesheets, although it is not recommended for several reasons, you just can't allow that timesheet to affect their pay.

You can require that they fill out some sort of 'leave' form and turn it in to HR anytime they are to be away from the office (such as XX date, gone 2 hours for doctor's appt.) OR you can hold supervisor's responsible for turning in time away (assuming the supervisor's will be consistent.)

Just some ideas.

marc

We have a timesheet for exempts that just tracks usage of leave banks.

mushroomHR

Our exempts fill out a daily time sheet indicating whether we were in the office all day, half day, or had to leave for X hours. As long as our pay isn't affected this is perfectly legal to do.

Shadowfax

Not only can you track exempt time - I have always felt it was imperative. The only cavaeat is that it connot impact on the salary. But not having a record of time spent by your employees, including exempts is an invitation to disaster. Come the day one of them claimns you have misclassified him as exempt - and he has written down every minute he worked for the last three years, and you are looking at a blank sheet ofpaper - guess who wins? And wins double the amount you failed to pay (by his personal time records) plus his attorney's fees. I think it is irresponsible NOT to keep the records - and I speak from personal experience!

njjel

OK. So what if an exempt ee works 1/2 a day and leaves for a doctor's appointment. They had a sick bank and a vacation bank but it is used up. Can the employer now dock their pay?

lorrie

My understanding is that you can NOT dock them for the time away if it is for their own illness. I'm just not sure if a routine dr. appt. counts as an illness.(?)

You can however subject all employees, including exempt, to your company's attendance policy. Your policy could say something like: an exempt employee who misses time after their leave bank is emptied is subject to a full-day unpaid suspension. This seems kind of severe, depending on the circumstances, but is an option. And of course, you can enforce an attendance policy that says if they miss any more time (even partial days) then they are subject to termination. Depends on your goals and needs.

njjel

Wow. I'm not at all sure I would venture there! A company can't make rules that violate FLSA.

lorrie

How does enforcing an attendance policy violate FLSA?

njjel

If you don't pay an ee that is exempt when FLSA states they must be paid, then there is a violation. I don't believe that just b/c a company makes a policy to not pay ee's that makes it legal.

lorrie

I must not have been very clear. I was not suggesting that they not be paid for the day that they missed 1/2 for medical. I understand FLSA requires that. But I understand that a company has the right to discipline employees who abuse an attendance system by implementing an unpaid suspension day. (The unpaid suspension day would be a specified day sometime AFTER the partial day missed.)

FunHRBanker

I was under the impression that an if exempt ee comes to work for 2 minutes and performs ANY work in that 2 minutes, they must be paid for the whole day. You can dock their sick/vacation/personal time bank, but when they are out, you must pay them for the entire day.

marc

It was my understanding that once the leave banks were exhausted, you did NOT have to pay.

njjel

Marc - that applies only to full day absences. If an exempt works a partial day and has used up their bank, they must be paid for a full day. At least that is my understanding. Regarding the discipline part - I believe even the new regs do not permit an er to give an exempt ee a day off w/o pay for time missed. Now more serious violations like insubordination, etc. that could be applied.

E Wart

I urge people to keep some type of records regarding people's whereabout's, even if it doesn't affect their pay. I have so many cases where supv. want to disciple employees for attendance and don't have anything to support it. Also, had a case with an employee who was injuried in w/c injury. He told supv. he was going to doctor and just started coming and going at will. 5 years later, (after I started to work) there was a w/c law suit and we were unable to document the amount of time we paid the employee even though they weren't in the office. Another situation I had was where there was a lap top stolen. The company didn't keep information on exempt employees so we couldn't even tell who was there and not there as well as talking with people to find out if they saw/knew anything. It was a mess.
Just don't use this to affect their full day pay.
E Wart

Rockie

We don't dock leave banks for partial day absences for salaried individuals. They don't get overtime for hours worked over 40 and since our salaried people work over 40 hours in a week, we don't feel it's the right thing to do to dock them an hour or two for a doctor's appointment. Our policy is if they work any portion of a day, they are not docked any PTO. If they are out for an entire day, PTO would apply.