Salary Nonexempt forced vacation
C Wilson
122 Posts
Since our controller went to a wage & hour seminar in August the following change took place. When a nonexempt salaried person is out a full day for any reason they are forced to use a vacation day instead of having the option of taking an unpaid day. We were closed for a couple of days dring hurricane Ivan, so there went the vacation days I had planned to use in November.
Are any of you aware of any changes in the regs. that would have initiated this change in procedure?
Are any of you aware of any changes in the regs. that would have initiated this change in procedure?
Comments
As far as the vacation vs. unpaid time issue is concerned, we also do that. Our policy specifically states that any available paid time off must be exhausted before an employee is permitted to take unpaid time. Otherwise, you have an employee who takes a few hours here and a day there in unpaid status, but still has vacation time left.
An employer is at liberty to establish its own vacation policy and can require that absences be charged against vacation balances in any time periods it wishes; hourly, half-day, full day, etc.
Non-exempt, salaried employees are indeed common. We have quite a few. The terms are not mutually exclusive. Hourly employees can be paid a guaranteed weekly salary, for example, and still be entitled to overtime. My assistant and receptionist both fit in this pay category.
Don D observes that “Hourly employees can be paid a guaranteed weekly salary, for example, and still be entitled to overtime.” Well, I hope so Don – but the term “guaranteed weekly salary” as it applies to non-exempt employees, has no real meaning outside of its colloquial use in a particular place of employment. As far as the FLSA is concerned, you are treating (paying) that employee as an hourly employee all along no matter what you call them or the compensation arrangement.
To be sure, there is nothing in the FLSA that prevents an employer from paying an otherwise bona-fide salaried employee overtime -- but when you do, you are, in fact, treating that employee as an hourly employee. When it comes to the FLSA's test for the eligibility of overtime pay, neither job titles nor employer-specific pay scale nomenclatures have any bearing.