exempt ees
marina
107 Posts
I have a question about exempt ees. I have 6 exempt here and 2 of them were really abusing the fact that they did not have to clock in or out, claiming comp time all the time. So I made the decision to have everyone clock in and out to be able to control their comp. Now I have 1 ee who
is threatning to go to the Labor Board, because she is clocking in and out again. Any suggestions? I am in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Thank you very much. Marina
is threatning to go to the Labor Board, because she is clocking in and out again. Any suggestions? I am in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Thank you very much. Marina
Comments
I tracked down a federal ruling regarding this exact thing. You may want to check it out. You can track exempt time pretty much how ever you want as long as you are still paying them their salary for any day they work. Employers are supposed to track time worked for exempts, though many do not. [url]http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/opinion/FLSANA/2004/2004_05_13_04FLSA_NA_timekeeping.htm[/url]
Part of regulation CFR516.3. Hope this helps!
You may track/record work hours of exempt EEs in any fashion you deem appropriate.
The issue would be around docking of their wages for hours not worked: you CANNOT dock an exempt EE's salary for a partial day's absence (unless it's under FMLA leave.....but that's another issue.)
You may, however, charge their accrued leave time for a partial day's abesence...as long as they have leave to cover the absence. But, if they're absent for part of 1 day, and do not have leave accrued to cover it, again you cannot dock their wages for the absence.
Nevertheless, having your exempt EEs clock in/out may have the desired effect by eating up their accrued leave with partial-day absences.
>detailed in some of the posts above, Management
>can set the expectation that Exempt staff
>observe set hours and must account for their
>time. The Exempt status is not a license to
>waltz in and out at whim.
You are absolutely correct; however, I had 2 ees who set their OWN hours, thinking that I would not notice , not taking lunches for 2 weeks and then asking for the 2nd friday off, claiming comp time! So now they will clock in and out with their time card. Thank you for your input.
Everyone above is correct the company can require EXEMPTs to clock in and out for control purposes and the administration of benefits and programs.
If you staffed your decision to implement, then obviously, you have your peers on your side and all the situations that are going to come up, like your Labor Relations threat, you will be in the power house and swinging with a "big stick". You just hope the person moves forward with the action to complain, whoa, would that show that person the door to the outside quickly.
On the other hand, if you took this action on your own and did not have management support the heat may be on you, you are right, but, some senior leaders like to leave the operational aspects of their departments in the hands of department managers. One of their responsibilities is to "manage the coming and goings of their team". The issue you are trying to deal with from the HR's throne can be a painful one; I learned a long time ago to "leave well enough alone" and this is one of those areas where "well enough" is to manage my headaches with benefits, as best I can on behalf of the company and the within the plan document, as written. Tracking EXEMPT time to the minute, hour/block of hours can be a nightmare! Currently, my peers want to handle the issue and I'm am glad for it. The General Manager wants my peers to handle the issue and for me to watch from an arm's length for abuse but nothing further. Unless we in HR are told in writing or time card we pay inaccordance with the programmed salary. We do not have PTO and manage vacation and sick time, manually. It works for us and I am not concerned whether some manager or EXEMPT is here or not, it is not my job.
A little different slant on the subject, but not one that I have changed on this forum for 6 years.
PORK
Exempt staff are paid by the week, to accomplish a set of tasks. It is a fallacious concept that reaching the 40 hour threshhold allows them to earn comp time or go home early. If the work is not done, they should stay until it is.
Yes, you can expect them to keep hours for customer service purposes or to work with the rest of the staff (also a customer service perspective), or any of a number of valid business purposes. You just can't base their pay on the 40 hour concept - with the exception of charging those leave banks for hours missed during the regularly scheduled day.
Hows that for FLSA confusion?