comp time for exempt

bgrimes · August 2002

The scenario: An exempt salaried employee works Monday thru Sunday, seven days in a row. Since he didn't have a weekend, he wants to take off Tuesday of the next week to take care of things he needed to do on the 'worked weekend'. Do you see a problem here?? Is there a problem taking a day in the following week? Can he lose his exemption status in any way?

Don D · August 2002

The Fair Labor Standards Act says that comp time arrangements are allowed for exempt government employees at the 1 1/2 time rate. Not for private sector. But, to answer your question, yes, I would give the guy two days off if he's working 7 days straight.

bgrimes · August 2002

>The Fair Labor Standards Act says that comp time arrangements are
>allowed for exempt government employees at the 1 1/2 time rate. Not
>for private sector. But, to answer your question, yes, I would give
>the guy two days off if he's working 7 days straight.

Thanks for the quick answer, Don. I just don't want 'other' salaried people to get the idea that if they work several extra hours that they will be allowed to take a day off when they want to. The CEO wanted to give him the time off, but didn't want to send send the 'wrong message' to others and wasn't sure how to handle it. In this case, the guy earned it.

Rockie · September 2002

I can flat out tell you that the DOL will jerk the exempt status right off the back of a private sector employee if you try to track comp time on them. Their opinion is they don't care if the compensation is money or time, if you track hour for hour, you have made this person an hourly compensated employee.

As far as letting someone have a day off that has worked 7 in a row, there's not a thing in the world wrong with this! As long as a salaried person works any portion of a week, they are going to get paid for it anyway - they are paid for the job, not by the hour.

As far as the other exempts wanting to be compensated for "extra" hours - most salaried people are professional and understand what "exempt" status means. You will, of course, have the occasional maverick, who will complain about working over 40 hours a week, but it may be that they should be reclassified as an hourly person and required to punch a time clock. I'll bet a dollar to a donut that these folks don't work 40 hours on a consistent basis (That's just what I've found to be the case when these type folks complain).

bsa · August 2002

He might lose his exempt status if you dock his salary for taking Tuesday off. I would have suggested and then insisted that he take a day off in the next week. If you work 'em to a nub, they don't work quite the same after!

bgrimes · August 2002

Thanks, BSA, wouldn't 'dream' of docking his pay! He'd be madder than #@!!*#!

Don D · August 2002

Also give him a simple, handwritten thank you note on letterhead for the 'above and beyond' and for his attitute, signed by the top dog at the company and yourself. This will suddenly wipe out any ill-thought he might have about working the weekend, and will bring his wife at least half-way to that point.

bgrimes · August 2002

>Also give him a simple, handwritten thank you note on letterhead for
>the 'above and beyond' and for his attitute, signed by the top dog at
>the company and yourself. This will suddenly wipe out any ill-thought
>he might have about working the weekend, and will bring his wife at
>least half-way to that point.

Don, you're a 'gem'! Ya know, I just might really do that! By the way....how did you fare in the 'desert island' contest?? Bet you won hands down. See ya at the next post.

Hatchetman · August 2002

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-27-02 AT 04:56PM (CST)[/font][p]Does your company allow exempt employees to accrue overtime for full days worked on a regular day off. If he worked Saturday and Sunday, why don't you give him accrued overtime for two work days that he can use down the line. There is no prohibition on that for either private or public sector employers. FLSA is only concerned with paying or docking employees on an hourly basis.

Further if the employee works on Monday in the same work week that he is taking Tuesday off, then you pay him for the nenite wek. The Code does provide that if an emplyee takes a full day absence for personal reasons the emplyer MAY dock the day's pay without loss of exempt status. It's not rquired that the mepllyer do it..and given that the employee worked those two days, it seems to me you may not want to do it. Further, I think you could make a distinciton between this employee at this time and any other emplyee who takes person time off for a full day without having worked beyond the employee's expected work schedule.

So, it seems to me that you may and should allow the employee Tuesday off and not dock any salary.

The FLSA provision addressing the time-and-a-half comp time is for NON-exempt public employees when their governmental entity approves that overtime mechanism.

njjel · August 2002

As Hatchetman stated, I too was of the impression that comp time CAN be afforded to exempt employees. Does anyone disagree?

bgrimes · August 2002

Hatchetman.....please tell me more about this "accrued overtime" for exempt salaried employees you referred to in your former post. How does it work? How do you track this? Thanks for your input.

Hatchetman · August 2002

What we do...

Overtime is worked, accrued and used in a full "shift" basis when it is worked on a regular day off with approval of management.

For example, if the exempt employee regularly work Monday through Friday and then works 8 hours on Saturday, the employee can accrue 8 hours in overtime.

If the employee just extends a regular work day working past, no overtime is accured. The emplyee's work day usually ends at 5 p.m., but that evening he or she works until 11 p.m. No overtime is accrued.

When the employee is absent for a full day, the accrued overtime it will be used to cover a full day's absence.

There is a slight problem when the employee winds up working for part of a day on his or her regular day off in actuality. There is some discretion the supervising manager has in when to allow the 8 hours to be accrued. Let's say the emploiyyee works 3 hours on Saturday. While it is possible that the manager COULD allow the employee to accrue the 8 hours of overtime, I suspect most managers would not. On the other hand if the employee works 6 hours, it is most managers will probably approve the 8 hours of overtime. Exactly where the break comes won't ever be pinpointed.

Such accrued overtime must be used within one year. We have a cap of 5 "shifts" of accrued overtime being allowed on the books at any one time.

njjel · August 2002

Good Grief!

Don D · August 2002

That must be California law you're talking about.

comp time for exempt

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