Athletics Director requests very low salary

We are a non-profit, private, Christian university.  The Athletics Director that we hired recently requested that he only be paid $12,000/year.  That's less than minimum wage.  Is this legal? Do I need his request in writing? Should I classify him as non-exempt? Does he have to complete a time card each week?

Comments

  • 1 Comment sorted by Votes Date Added
  • [quote user="hkb1944"]We are a non-profit, private, Christian university.  The Athletics Director that we hired recently requested that he only be paid $12,000/year.  That's less than minimum wage.  Is this legal? Do I need his request in writing? Should I classify him as non-exempt? Does he have to complete a time card each week?[/quote]

    If he is exempt, it is not legal for you to pay less than $465/week.  Period.  If he wishes to donate from his check to the University, I'm sure the University won't turn it down.

    If he is non-exempt, you cannot work him more hours for a given level of pay than is permitted by the minimum wage requirement of FLSA.  Violation of the minimum wage provision can have serious consequences and an employee cannot waive their right to minimum wage.

    So, if he's exempt, you must pay what you must pay at the very least.  If he's non-exempt, you'll have to work him part time to keep him at $1,000 gross pay per month.

    Either he wants to "give back" which he can do by donating or he is under some other obligation such as a pension plan requiring that he not make more than $1,000/month.  You can't fix that problem for him by breaking the law.

Sign In or Register to comment.