Exempt EEs time off within first 90 days

corp_admin

I have a question how to treat Salaried-Exempt Employees taking time off within my company's 90 day probationary period.  In our Handbook it states "Eligible employees begin to accrue PTO on their first day of work.  However, employees are only eligible to use PTO after having satisfied a mandatory 90 day waiting period".  If an exempt employee is out within their first 90 days of employment and has not yet accrued enough PTO hours to cover the amount of hours (8 hrs per day) am I legally permitted to dock their pay (in full day increments of course)?

HRforME

Yes, you can generally dock for a full day if an exempt is out of PTO and takes a day for a personal reason.  If it is a sick day, you must have a "bonafide sick plan" to be able to dock.   However, I can't imagine having NO PTO to use in the first three months.   That's a long period of time with nothing. How long does it take to accrue 8 hours or one day?  Do you allow it to be used if accrued prior to 90 days?

 You can go "negative" balance, but in some states, you may not be able to recover that amount should they terminate prior to accruing it back.

You could also consider paying hourly for the first 90 days if timeoff is a large problem.  Of course that includes overtime if needed which may override the cost of the timeoff savings. Because while every position is NOT exempt, every position can be hourly.

TXHRGuy

I believe the 90 day stasis period is within the broad scope of a "bona fide" plan - there are DOL interpretive letters that suggest a very broad scope of plans and vesting periods are acceptable.  Whether a 90 day stasis period is desirable is a philosophical question.