Plant closed for Weather ... do we pay for the time off???
lrenoll
25 Posts
On Monday the decision was made to shut down the plant due to the snow. Now we are trying to figure out if we should pay the employees for the day off.
I thought I read that exempt employees had to be paid but hourly did not. Can someone please enlighten me on this subject. We'd like to make a decision today if possible. Thanks!
I thought I read that exempt employees had to be paid but hourly did not. Can someone please enlighten me on this subject. We'd like to make a decision today if possible. Thanks!
Comments
If we open with a skelton staff because of weather everyone gets paid thier regular hours and those who work get comp time in addition to thier pay.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman
Just beware what you do - precendence and all that. What happens if it happens again? Are you going to pay again? And give another paid day off around the holidays?
I have an exempt employee who was unable to work Monday because the plant was closed. I can now force this exempt to take a vacation or sick pay to cover the day off and not have any violations of Federal laws in doing so???? And say this is true, what do I do with the exempt employee who has no acrued sick or vacation time or not enough to cover the 8 hours for Monday???
You are fighting a losing battle. You management team thought process would concern me if I were you Irenoll.
If it is not already written in policy you will lose.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman
Take heed of Balloonman.
Yes, you can charge the accrued time benefits of an exempt employee for that day. Whether you want ot or not is nanother matter. If the exempt employee has no accrued time on the books that may be docked, then you still have to pay the exempt emplyee. And that's where you wind up with some morale issues.
If the exempt employee has had good attendance then probalby there will be accrued time on the books to charge. But if the exempt emplOyee has been absent a lot, e.g., under FMLA, then probably you won't have time on the books to charge. Thus, you "penalize" the good employee and not the poor attendance employee. And that's where your morale problem arises.
I assume the entire day the company was closed and that is what you'll be charging. If you plan to charge for a partial day's closure, you may be prevented from doing so by your state's laws and regualtions, if any, on accrued time banks, such as paid vacation and PTO.
I think you need to be very careful with exempt employees. I'd pay them as I would their normal salaries. I don't think you can dock them for the day, at least in Massachusetts.
Valentine
You must pay exempt employees if the company is closed due to an emergency.
You CAN require those employees to use vacation time or paid time off.
If an employee does not have enough vacation or paid time off to cover the time, you still must pay them BUT you can charge future accrued leave to this deficit.
If personnel are essential, we have sent four wheel drives for them if they can't get out of their driveways or up to the interstates to come into work. We try to assess these things where people don't feel like they have to try to come to work if they feel unsafe. But, at the same time, we all know there are employees that will use any excuse to stay home, especially if they know they will get paid for it regardless.
By law if they worked at all you have to pay them. You are going to have major problems if you have good dedicated employees who took some or any work home with them.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman
Susan