Salaried vs Hourly

keithlf · November 2003

We are starting a night shift and need a supervisor. The leadperson that we chose is hourly paid and our day supervisors are salaried. We want to keep the night supervisor hourly paid, but I'm not sure if we should do this since the day supervisors are salaried. What is legal? Please advise.

santire · November 2003

Lets assume that the supervisors in both shifts are exempt employees; i.e. they each manage two or more employees on their respective shifts and can hire, fire and promote employees or their recommendation to hire, fire, and promote are given serious consideration. If this is the case you can treat them as exempt and pay on a salary basis. However, you can also pay an exempt employee on an hourly basis if you want. By doing so you could jeopardize the exempt status of that employee. Furthermore, you can pay different people differently if you choose. For example, in your case if you want to treat the night time supervisors as nonexempt while treating the day time supervisors as exempt, you can do so. Aside from the legal challenges of doing so, you could be creating morale problems. Why should, for example, the day supervisors work for a salary with no overtime and the night supervisors receive overtime which is the only rational for paying them by the hour? If you need to pay night time supervisors more because the night time shift is less attractive, you might consider paying some sort of shift differential either with a higher night time salary, a shift bonus or some such mechanism.

keithlf · November 2003

Thanks for the info. I thought that would be the case, but I wanted to get another opinion before we kept him on hourly. I don't think we will have a morale problem with him, because he will be getting premium pay plus he will make 5 hours extra overtime.

SMace · November 2003

Of course you will not have a morale problem with him. But you will with the day supervisors. If you think they will not find out, I have some oceanfront property in Nevada to sell you. I would advise against keeping him hourly.

AJ SPHR · November 2003

I don't understand, how can you legally classify some people in a job classification as exempt, and other employees in the SAME job classification as non-exempt? Don't you jeaopardize the exempt status of the others in the job? Isn't that a violation of FLSA? Just confused ..

SMace · November 2003

The way I understand FSLA is that if they have the right to overtime and you deny it, you are in violation. However, if you want to pay overtime and they are not required to get it, you are not in vioation. In other words, if you "harm" them you are in violation, if you give them more than they deserve, you are not. Clear as mud?

AJ SPHR · November 2003

Uh, yep, clear as mud!8-|

I never have heard of that provision of the FLSA, primarily treating employees differently even though they are classified in the SAME job. I would also wonder, using an automated system, how in the world you would process overtime payments.

Why is it that each time I think I completely understand a regulation, someone tells me a different slant that blows it all out of the water?! x:-/

SMace · November 2003

FLSA, yep that's what I meant not FSLA. Not sure of what that act entails. I'm waiting for the link masters to jump in. Again, you can pay someone however you like and you can pay people differently, however if they are due OT you better pay it. Also you cannot violate the equal pay act and minimum wage laws. Otherwise, save local or state laws you can pay however you like. Now, if the night supervisor is a man and the day supervisors are women, I can see legal problems, otherwise the biggest issue is morale. Morale is a pretty big issue.

keithlf · November 2003

All of our supervisors are men and so far there has not been a morale issue. I had a long discussion with the Plant Superintendent and we agreed the the new supervisor will be on a 90 day evaluation period and if he makes it, he will be placed on salary. Thanks for all your comments.

POPEYE · November 2003

>All of our supervisors are men and so far there
>has not been a morale issue. I had a long
>discussion with the Plant Superintendent and we
>agreed the the new supervisor will be on a 90
>day evaluation period and if he makes it, he
>will be placed on salary. Thanks for all your
>comments.

I'm curious as to why the gender of your supervisors has anything to do with morale?

SMace · November 2003

Speaking for Keith, he was replying to my equal pay act reference.

POPEYE · November 2003

Thanks, SMace. Had I read all of the posts I would have picked up on the reason for the comment.

Hatchetman · November 2003

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-24-03 AT 11:01AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Remember what's classified are duties of a job, not the individual or the shift.

Thus, if you deem a position of a job to be non-exempt even though it could qualify for exempt status, and you pay the position hourly wages, you do jeopardize the exempt, salaried status of the employees who perform the same duties in the other positions of the job.

What you may want to do is to give a night "differential" in the salary for the night hours.

Salaried vs Hourly

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