Clearly Documented FLSA reg.

I've spent (actually wasted) enough time on the DOL website looking for clearly documented verbage on an FLSA reg., which I could never find. If any of you could help, it would be appreciated.

I am looking for an accredited piece of documentation which states the FLSA reg that if a non-exempt salaried employee works part of a day (even if it is for an hour) he/she must be paid for a full day's work. A lot of these statements involve docking earned time off, but nothing that straight forward states that if they work, they get paid. Period.

Do any of you have some documentation from an authoritative source? Thanks!

Comments

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  • Check out the following:

    Docking: 29 CFR 541.118
    Partial-day absences: Abshire v. County of Kern, 908 F.2d 483 (9th Cir. 1990)
    Docking in one-week increments: Block v. City of Los Angeles, 253 F.3d 410 (9th Cir. 2001)

    Hope this helps.
  • I thought it permissible to dock a non-exempt salaried worker's pay for a partial day. In otherwords, if they only work part of the day you only have to pay them for hours worked plus any PTO they may want to use. However, in certain instances it is not permissible to dock an exempt salaried worker's pay for a partial day. Have I been wrong all this time?
  • No, you're right. NON-exempt employees can be docked partial-day absences; EXEMPT employees generally cannot except under certain circumstances (see the references in my earlier response).
  • OK, can you translate? I did go to your references and my eyes are completely glazed over. x:-/ I was taught that the only amount of time exempt employees can use for time off/vacation/personal is four hours. Anything less than that is not counted, anything more is still counted as four hours. Right? Wrong? I myself am exempt and have taken half personal days. Am I a big sucker?
  • I was confused for a moment and then I realized I made a huge typo. This ee is EXEMPT not NON-exempt. I'm going to chalk that error up to it being Monday. Really, I'm not an idiot.

    OK, let me re-state my jibberish. The ee is a salaried exempt administrative professional. She worked an hour and went home. I told my payroll person she needed to be paid for a full day, she said that she didn't work and doesn't have ETO. I said, I know, but it's the law. The CEO thinks that if someone works 75% of the day, they get paid in full. I need something in writting from the FLSA or other credited source that the FLSA states that an EXEMPT salaried employee is not to have their time docked if they do not work a full day.

    We require that they use ETO first, but this ee didn't have any ETO to use. So in essence we need to pay this ee for a full days work. This I know, but my CEO said that unless I can show him proof, he believes the 75% rule.

    The court ruling was helpful, but it won't be concrete enough. DId I clarify or confuse?
  • Let's try this again. I input a whole truckload of text and then hit the wrong button on my browser and it disappeared into the ether! I hate it when that happens.

    "The employee must be paid a full week's salary for each week in which work is performed, regardless of the hours actually worked. The DOL regulations allow employers to dock an exempt employee's pay ONLY in limited circumstances. These include:

    "1. absences of a day or more for personal reasons, other than sickness or an accident;

    "2. absences of a day or more for sickness or disability if the employer has a plan, policy or practice of compensating employees for wage loss due to sickness and disability, or if the employee is receiving other wage loss benefits (e.g., workers' compensation, disability insurance payments);

    "3. leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act;

    "4. disciplinary pay reductions to penalize the employee for violating 'safety rules of major significance.'

    "Although pay reductions for partial-day absences are generally not allowed, a federal court has ruled that an employer may reduce the employee's accumulated leave time for these absences. Once leave time is exhausted, however, the employer may NOT then begin docking an employee's pay for partial-day absences. The DOL has issued an opinion letter agreeing with this position." (US Employer's Guide 10 (2003))
  • JM in ATL: Simply call your wage and hour office of the DOL in ATlanta and or go by and pick up a copy of Regulations Part 785, Part 541, & 778. As a good HR you should have your own personal copy of each. Each should be ready marked for the general areas of concern within our HR world with TABS for quick reference. In order to get to the appropriate answer for your situation you must have a detailed understand of EXEMPT vs NON-EXEMPT. These classification and their appropriate application is critical to giving you advise on the handling of an incident of deductions against one's wages/salary amount. Bottom line is for a non-EXEMPT you pay that person for all hours worked>>>......FOR AN EXEMPT YOU PAY THIS PERSON FOR THE WEEK REGARDLESS OF ANY HOURS WORKED. If the non-EXEMPT does not work the necessary hours agreed to, to acquire a given salary, based on an hourly rate of pay for a given set of hours (say 32 or 40)worked, then there is no deduction, there is only a positive calculation of the hours worked to the hourly rate of pay to get to the Gross amount of pay. 40 hours for $400.00 a week is $10.00 per hour, when I only work 32 hours in this week I earn $320.00. If I have vacation and/or sick time available you could give me the opportunity to cash in 8 hours at $10.00 per hour for $80.00. The two added together gives me the $400.00 to which we signed on in agreement. Non-EXEMPTs are not slaried they are hourly paid; and paid only for the hours worked!!!

    PORK
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