FMLA salaried non-exempt

dcaudill

I have an employee that was working as an hourly union employee. We promoted him to an office position within the company as a salaried non-exempt employee within the Quality Assurance department. He was already on FMLA for a serious health condition for his wife while he was working as an hourly union employee. After he was promoted to the salaried non exempt, his wife was placed in the hospital and he has missed the past three days to be with her under his FMLA conditions. My question is, do we pay him for the past three days since he is salaried, but is on FMLA and not off work because of his own illness? We do pay our salaried non-exempt employees when they are away from work because of an illness that prevents them from coming to work after providing the proper documentation. He tells me he has documentation from the hospital showing that he has been with his wife this whole time. I do payroll on Mondays and I really need to know before then if this employee with get paid for 40 hours or 16. Thank you for your help. Debby

LarryC

Sounds like if he has the documentation in accordance with your policy, then you also must act in accordance with your policy and pay him.

Just curious why you pay nonexempt for time off without using PTO?

lorrie

<... because of an illness that prevents them from coming to work ...>

If your policy does not specify that the illness must be their own, and if your practice has been to pay employees who were out due to the illness of a family member, then why would you question whether or not to pay him? Your question makes me wonder if you typically require that it be their own illness.

Basically, you are not required by law to pay him for this time, unless your company policy requires it; and it sounds like it does.

Geno

Me thinks that you are fusing two separate issues into one.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows the employer to deduct from the exempt employee's salary for full-day absences. It is within the employer's discretion to pay or not to pay for full day absences as long as the policy is administered consistently.

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) does not dictate how or even if the employer must compensate/pay the employee (exempt or otherwise) for absences due to his/her illness. Furthermore, it does not dictate how or if the employer must compensate/pay the employee (exempt or otherwise) for absences due to illness of the employee's spouse, child, or parent.

Compensation (or lack thereof) under these circumstances should be dictated by the employer's established policies as they relate to paid leaves, and again, consistent application of the rules is the key.

Geno, SPHR

LivindonSouth

forget the fact that he used to be an hourly employee. Remove the word 'union' from the thought process. Neither of those is relevant at the moment. Pay or don't pay him in accordance with your policy. If you don't have a policy, pay or don't pay him in accordance with your standard practice. If you don't have any experience upon which to base a standard practice statement, pay or don't pay him in accordance with what you would do for others similarly situated.

Don, BTB/WEG/FRT

LarryC

Ok, Don, I'll bite. What does it all stand for?

njjel

Placing someone on FMLA who is exempt and not paying them (if that is your policy) does not cause the exempt ee to lose their exempt status per the FMLA regs.

marc

Is this the first time you have had an exempt EE stay home for a family members illness?

Your post does not ask an FML question, it is just interwoven into the scenario - take that part out of the equation. As others have pointed out - surely you have established a precedent or a practice with respect to other exempt personnel being out for similar circumstances.

What did you do when your office manager was home for the kids flu? If you paid that person, you should pay this person.