Suspend exempt without pay?
System
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One of our exempt managers called about two hours after he was supposed to be in and said his alarm didn't go off. Now, two hours after the phone call, he's still not here. His Boss wants to suspend him without pay for a day. I told him just to discipline and document but he wants more. Are there any issues around suspending an exempt ee without pay for one day?
Comments
But, an exempt ee can be paid only 32 hours in a given week if there is a major safety violation or for illness/disability.
It comes from a combination of two separate provisons of the FLSA regulaitons on exempt status at 29CFR541.118(a).
The regulation only permits suspending an emplyee and docking the weekly salary when the employee commits a violation of a major safety rule of the employer. But the general provison of 118(a) states that in any week an exempt employee does not work, the emplyee does not have to be paid. Thus the concept is that if the emplyee is suspended for all the regular wirk days during the week (and performs no work during the week), then the suspension is in compliance with the regulation even though the employee did not violate a major safety rule. My recllection is that US DOL has no problem with this approach.
Deez, if the exempt employee did NOT show up to work at all for one day due to personal reasons (non-lillness or injury), you could dock him that one day's pay from the weekly salary. You don't have to cover it with accrued paid time (unless your company policy requires it be done). Perhaps that is what your boss is really looking for.
Any comments...
The best you can do for your scenario would be to dock vacation pay for the Wed-Thu-Fri, then suspend unpaid the following Mon-Fri
Even though the exempt employee may be paid semi-monthly, the FLSA regualiton regarding salaried status sitll looks at the "work week" for the purpose of paying the exempt emplyee for having worked any part of the week.
The sepcifc provision of 29CFR541.118(a) is:
"Subject to the exceptions provided below, the employee must receive his full salary for any week in which he performs any work without regard to the number of days or hours worked. This policy is also subject to the general rule that an employee need not be paid for any workweek in which he performs no work."
(a)(1) goes on to provide, "An employee will not be considered to be 'on a salary basis' if deductions from his predetermined compensation are made for absences occasioned by the employer or by the operating requirements of the business. Accordingly, if the employee is ready, willing, and able to work, deductions may not be made for time when work is not available."
And (a)(5) specifically provides, "Penalties imposed in good faith for infractions of safety rules of major significance will not affect the employee's salaried status. Safety rules of major significance include only those relating to the prevention of serious danger to the plant, or other employees, such as rules prohibiting smoking in explosive plants, oil refineries, and coal mines."
The only way you can accomplish what the boss wants to do is to have the exempt employee on a work week that encompasses the order of those days all in the same work week. To suspend an employee for a work week, you would only need to prevent the employee from working the regular work days of the work week, assuming the regular days off, e.g. Saturday and Sunday, for example, wouldn't be worked at all in the first place.
Thus you can see that suspending the exempt, salaried employee for the last part of one work week and the first part of the next work week (with the emplyee working the other parts of the two work weeks) entitles the employee to full pay for both work weeks.
Man, you already answered my question!!! You're the man. I didn't read your entire post (that is SUCH a bad habit, but sometimes necessary due to time constraints)
What would we do without you!!!!!!!!!