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Attendance policies and exempt staff

kabfrenchkabfrench 1 Post
in HR & Employment Law Vote Up0Vote Down
We are having many questions raised regarding our salary staff being held to our attendance policy. We currently hold all employees to the same no-fault attendance policy. If you are late, it is noted. If you leave early, again, it is noted. If you call off, it is noted and pto time is taken. The exempt staff feels this is unfair, that because they are salary, and they work a lot of overtime without overtime pay, they should not be held to the same standard as an hourly employee. I am looking for feedback on this issue, especially any related to legal issues. We are located in Indiana. Thank you!
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  • 5 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • HR In NHHR In NH 64 Posts
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    We allow more flexibility with our salary employees, since they do work more hours than an average work week. We do not take any action if a salary employee comes in late or has to leave early or is absent (unscheduled day).

    However, we do let everyone know that if there is a pattern of abuse, they will be subject to our attendance policy. We've never had any abuse, so we've never had to address this.
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  • NaeNae55NaeNae55 3,243 Posts
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    Ditto. In fact, our President takes the attitude that exempt employees are paid for a job, not their time, and as long as performing the job doesn't require being here exactly at 8am, then she is fine with you coming in a 8:10. This has been made clear to our hourly employees and if it bothers them, they never say so.

    We have had the occassional exempt employee who comes in at 8:30 on a consistant basis...right up until their next review. Then, amazingly, they start making an effort to be here on time.

    Nae
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  • allsteaksallsteaks 791 Posts
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    There is a legal issue with charging them pto time for time missed if you want to keep classifying them as exempt. Tracking their attendance isn't really an issue because you have to be able to identify patterns of abuse. But you cannot deduct hours from them or arbitrarily charge pto time for hours missed if you claim they are paid a flat salary and not an hourly wage. It seems particularly unfair if they are working a lot of additional hours (not overtime, additional). If the work schedule needs to be well structured perhaps you should consider making them non-exempt.

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  • E WartE Wart 719 Posts
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    Allsteaks, I think you may be wrong on this. I think you can dock their PTO/Vac or whatever. However, if they run out, you can't dock their pay for part of a day.
    E Wart
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  • SMaceSMace 1,481 Posts
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    You are correct Wart. Allsteaks also commented that due to their structured schedule they should consider making them non-exempt. Schedule has nothing to do with whether you are exempt or not. Your duties determine that.
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