Salaried Non Ex Ee doing Piecework

HRQ

An hourly staff member has resigned and a salaried non-exempt staff member has offered to "absorb" her responsibilities.

We do not want her to perform the extra work while doing her normal duties, meaning we want her to work at home. Because she is salaried non-exempt and usually works 35-45 hours/week, this would often be "overtime" at the half-time rate, reducing the overall dollar value of her overtime. This means she wouldn't make very much $$ for her extra work. (Although we'd get cheap labor for it...)

So my question is...

Can we pay her a "bonus" or piecework for the additional tasks, without paying her an hourly wage for the time spent doing the work? We are looking at around 20 hours per month of extra work.

I think the only other option to make the extra work an incentive for her personally would be to pay a bonus in addition to the "inexpensive" overtime wage she'd receive.

After putting my question in writing, I think I've answered my own question: we must pay her for the hours she works, and can pay an additional bonus if we wish. Correct?

Thanks for whatever help you can give... x:D

LivindonSouth

You have no choice that will allow you to avoid the overtime payment. As you already know, you can use the convoluted formula that allows you to pay half-time only for the hours over 40; but, you must pay overtime at one rate or the other. You can pay a bonus or buy her a pointy, birthday hat as a reward at your option.




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hhaynal

Late last year, our company was faced with a somewhat similar position in that we had an exempt employee who wanted to work parttime, taking on an additional 20 hours per week, working in a non-exempt manufacturing position.

After consultation with counsel, it was determined (in Delaware) to be handled as follows:

In order for the employee to maintain their exempt status while performing the non-exempt work, the company must perform an analysis of the exempt position to determine the following: (1) under what classification is the exemption claimed; (2) combine both the exempt and non-exempt work together, then determine the percentage of duties to be exempt and those
to be nonexempt in the given work week. For example, exempt employee generally works a 40-hour work week and wants to take on 20 hours in mfg operations (non-exempt). Employee works a total of 60 hours in a given work week. It is determined 25 hours (41 percent) is spent in non-exempt duty with the remaining 35 hours (or 59 percent) in exempt work. According to the DOL, the exempt employee status would "probably be okay." However, were the percentages to be closer together, 50/50, then the employee would
be in jeopardy of losing his/her exempt status.

To address the wage arrangement for the non-exempt work -- The company can pay whatever it wants to the employee for performing the mfg
ops work so long as it is agreed to by the parties prior to starting the part-time work.

Also, there is NO OVERTIME consideration for work performed in excess of 40 hours.

In summary:
1. The company may pay whatever it wants to the employee for performing the manufacturing work, so long as the employee continues to receive the guaranteed salary for his regular exempt position.
2. No overtime premium need be paid so long as the employee retains exempt status.