Exempt Absences

richzero

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 02-13-03 AT 06:46AM (CST)[/font][p][font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 02-13-03 AT 06:45 AM (CST)[/font]

A Supervisor manages exempt and non-exempt employees. She wants to treat them similarly. An exempt employee works beyond 40 hours per week on occasion. (Not to mention taking work home voluntarily.) The exempt employee advised the Supervisor that he needed to leave work 15 minutes early - and the Supervisor was visably upset. Also he went home 1 hour early after an out-of-the-office meeting, rather than return for 1 hour, and he was asked to take 1 hour of vacation. Please comment.

cthr

What is your company policy on off-site meetings. Are employees required to return to work, how have other employees been handled in this situation. Remember, an exempt employee is paid for the job they perform, not the number of hours they work.

Does your company allow vacation time to be taken in 1 hour increments? Even if they do, I would doubt that in this case it would be applicable. How close to the office was the meeting. If it was in the same building, I would say the person should probably have returned, but if it would have taken the employee some amount of time based on distance and traffic to get back, would it really be worth it to require them to return?

Is this Supervisor relatively new? I think you need to sit down and explain how exempt status works.

watrsflo

I agree with cthr's comments. It seems to me some time invested in enhancing communication between the supervisor and subordinate(s) regarding policy and expectations would be beneficial. Is there a policy? Is it clear; available, &c?

scantey

I agree- If you want to treat an "exempt" employee as a non-exempt- you are going to have serious problems. I had a hearing with the DOL a few years back and if an employee is classified as exempt then even if they show up for 4 hours in one day we can not dock him the other 4. In fact, we should not even document it. If they are getting all of their work done it doesnt matter - Bottom line is you dont pay an exempt employee for the numbe os hours worked- you pay them for producing a result. I have several articles on this if you would like me to fax a few over- send me your fax #...
Thanks
Suzanne

LindaS

I TOTALLY agree with Suzanne. Exempt employees are hired to do a job, regardless of the number of hours it takes them to complete it. I once worked for a company that took advantage of exempt employees, requiring them to work ALOT of overtime without having to pay them while at the same time docking their PTO banks for EVERY absence, regardless of how long. In addition they reprimanded employees for absences after their PTO banks were used up and who missed work. You cannot enjoy the advantages of having exempt employees (i.e., not having to pay them overtime) and treat them as non-exempt employees at the same time. This creates alot of negative feelings and truly brings down the morale.

When I interviewed for the position I have I was told by my boss "I'm hiring you to do a job. If it sometimes required 45-50 hour weeks, that's what it takes but if it takes you 35 hours, that's fine too." This is something that is consistently followed throughout the organization and I don't see any abuse of it. It took me a while to get used to this idea due to my past experience but I know what his expectations of me are and, as a professionsl, I have the flexibility I need to get my job done as well as have time for other things that are important to me.

While I understand the regulations and the allowances for "docking" of exempt employees I feel that if you are hiring an individual into an exempt position, you should treat them as professionals and they should act the same way. If they don't, deal with in on a performance level.

Pork

Richzero: Exempts can be treated equaly in some things but in hours worked, etc. one should not try. Exempt status could be lost and the supervisor might unintenionally cause the loss of exemption. There is a reason to have exempt and non-exempt employees and if we HRs don't keep it straight we could cause some congressman to go for a change and all of a sudden we will be paying for all that sweet over time and work done at home that presently the employer gets as a "beeney" for having a loyal exempt employee that is married to his job and the task necessary, 25/8 days a week. DON'T LET HER DO IT!!!PORK