HELP! Exempt emp. reduced her hours to PT

abenz · July 2002

An exempt employee went out on maternity leave and when she came back from leave she requested to only work 4 days a week for a total of 32 hours. She has been asked to keep track of her hours and she is not being paid on a salary basis. I am guessing she has lost her exempt status and now is going to have to be treated as a non-exempt employee. Please offer some insight into this situation.

Gillian · July 2002

To start with, an exempt employee is exempt by virtue of the job duties. If the job duties are really exempt, what you have is a mistake by someone who wanted to track hours. The only time that you would "lose" the exempt status of this job is if the employee filed a wage claim for overtime or something like that. Take a look at the job and decide if it is really exempt. If it is, discontinue the tracking of hours. If it really isn't, stay where you are.

Paul · August 2002

You may also want to check into the PDA (Pregnancy Discrimination Act) to make sure that there are not leave provisions for after the birth of the child. I know that there are traps that you can fall into with the PDA on pre-natal care.

If you have found that the job duties have not lessened and that the job is really exempt, you will need to go back and compensate the employee for any reduction in pay that you have made. Make sure to get with your corporate attorney and have them draft a waiver for the employee to sign stating that in exchange for the enclosed compensation, the employee waives their right to sue under the PDA, FLSA (and any other laundry list of laws that the attorney feels is relevant).

Good Luck.

dhnyct · August 2002

Considering we probably don't have all factors involved in this case...

Sounds like mom has been released for return to work, but wants to spend more time with baby. How does that valid personal decision impact the business?

If job duties are truly exempt, consider prorating the "salary" in line with the reduced schedule? Can the office continue to operate efficiently by redesignating a full-time exempt position? If former duties must be realigned, the position may need to be re-evaluated.

Beware establishing a precedent by accommodating one particular employee.

moneyman · August 2002

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-19-02 AT 08:44AM (CST)[/font][p]I agree with all the posts that you must consider the job and not the person when determining the exempt status. In this example, it sounds like the job has not changed and therefore the status has not changed.

I would tend to think that if the 32 hour schedule is a permanent change from the 40 hour week, a renegotiation of salary base is in order. In our organization, the exempt salaries are set with an estimated "regular" hourly week in mind. Some are 40 hour office/admin people, some are 50-60 with evening and weekend on-call work required. When these positions are filled, the amount of estimated hours per week go into the salary calculation. Under these circumstances, if we decided to allow someone reduced hours, we would renegotiate the salary to a proportionate rate.

I would not ask for "timesheets" if you intend to keep the exempt status. Having the employee keep track of time is a danger to the status. I would just renegotiate the salary with the intention of reduced hours.

Pork · August 2002

To me it is no guess! If you are keeping her hours and she is not being paid a salary, it is obvious that you are treating her like a non-exempt person. You have figured out what her per hour rate is and you are paying it.

No brainer, until she is ready to come back into the exempt status and return to her normal duties, supervising and/or making company decisions about how the business is operated from day to day. When this happens, now you have to decide is she exempt or non-exempt? Next question is: was she always a non-exempt and will there be concerns for the many long hours over 40 that were not paid overtime for which the company has no record, but know she has her own diary ( or can make one up) to prove she is owed back wages?

You should really look into her position before all this started, Was it truly exempt? Been there and done that, there is a snake coiled and ready to strike here! Good luck

Pork · August 2002

Another thought, assume the position is and was always exempt. There is reason not to establish the position as exempt and pay a salary and let the employee get the work done at home at work or within 32 hours or 60 hours. For get keeping the time, just flex and let mom get the work done, and take care of her child all at the same time. However, if you do it for one then be prepared to do it for any and all salaried. Good luck Pork

Linda_CA · August 2002

There is both a "duties" test and a "salary" test that determines an exemption. Exempt employees are basically paid for the work and their time. So if you are paying this ee on an hourly basis and requiring her keep track of her time and if you are docking her for partial days missed, I would think she is nonexempt. If her duties haven't changed, prorate her salary based on the hours worked and continue paying her on a salary basis. Don't pay her an hourly rate.

Rockie · August 2002

You had better believe if you let one person work at home, you are going to have more requests than you can possibly accomodate. We have one salaried person who works 32 hours a week for "X" amount of salary and we have had nothing but trouble out of her. Anytime she works over 32 hours a week, she expects that she has the right to accrue "comp" time. We have had nothing but battles and problems over this. Thankfully, I did not put this one into place -it was here before I came on board. Unfortunately, the experence with this individual would tend to keep us from considering requests from other individuals. I have seen this work very successfully, with reasonable individuals.

Carol CA · August 2002

We had the same situation happen to us. Our exempt employee wanted to spend more time with her daughter and requested a 30 hour work week. We allowed this, but re-aligned her salary at 3/4 of what it was before. As with a regular exempt employee, sometimes she worked 28 hours or 32 hours - but we didn't keep track and "dock" or give "OT/Comp time". After a few months she decided to quit althougher and stay home for a while.

HELP! Exempt emp. reduced her hours to PT

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