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Partial Day Docking at EEs request

DazedDazed 4 Posts
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Can you dock the pay of an exempt employee for a partal day's absence at he employee's request? I have one employee who has hours available in his leave bank and wants to save it for later. He has requested to be paid for a partial week (36 hours). I have another who has exhausted his leave bank (it's negative) and has requested to be docked rather than increase his negative balance. I know we cannot dock exempt employees for partial day's absences, but is there a way to do this legally if it's at the employee's request?
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  • NaeNae55NaeNae55 3,243 Posts
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    There are a few specific circumstances where you can dock an exempt employee's pay. The most notable is concerned is FMLA. If your employees are on FMLA leave AND your company policies don't make employees take paid leave first, then they can take leave without pay.

    The other possibilities are very narrowly defined and unlikely to apply here (you can check out the DOL website for more information.)

    If your employees are not on FMLA, and/or if your FMLA leave policies don't apply, I would say no. I would tell the employees it is a matter of law and not a matter of choice.

    Good luck!

    Nae
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  • SystemSystem 5,885 Posts
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    [font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-10-08 AT 11:04AM (CST)[/font][br][br]This has been an issue for me as well. I was under the impression we could not dock for partial days - but we did and I tried to address it. Fortunately the ee is gone but it may come up again.

    Thanks for any clarifications.





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  • stilldazedstilldazed 640 Posts
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    FLSA looks at each work week separately, and there are situations where an employee can be exempt, salaried, or non exempt one week and different another week. I have never seen one, but I have read it in textbooks. Would I try it? No way, at least not without the advice of a labor attorney who specializes in FLSA. However, because of the way FLSA addresses each week separately, there may be an opportunity to make a change. It would not be at the request of the employee.
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  • Dutch2Dutch2 1,590 Posts
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    It appears that you have exempt ee's with a non-exempt mentality. As the others have pointed out... this has the potential of being very tricky. I recommend being very careful when you start paying exempt ee's on an hourly basis. We have never done this - yet... If an exempt ee wants a half day off, they either count it as part their annual paid leave or their Supervisor instructs us that they will be out of the office but will continue to be paid for the full day. Here if an exempt ee works any portion of a day we pay them for the full day. Good luck.
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  • davidsdavids 427 Posts
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    I believe the answer is no, except for the FMLA exception. Think about it this way: can the employee and employer agree to violate the statute? Can they agree not to pay time and one-half for overtime? Can they agree to pay less than the minimum wage? Unless there is an exception in the statute (such as for FMLA), the answer is no.
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  • SystemSystem 5,885 Posts
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    Thank you David for a direct and concise answer. You are always so helpful!
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