Non-exempt
kkoehler
19 Posts
Up until recently we have treated all of the staff of our privately owned, 30 employee, company as salaried employees. We are all paid once a month but I understand that overtime works within a week not a month. No one was ever docked for minimum time missed nor paid for overtime worked. Per our labor law attorney we got a list of exempt vs non-exempt employees and distributed time sheets to the non-exempt employees. Generally, no one works overtime unless it is a cashier and she can't balance her drawer or an employee volunteers to come in on a Saturday to play "catch up". Are we expected to pay overtime to employees who can't keep a more than reasonable amount of work caught up or to a cashier who made an error during the day and can't balance her drawer? We are seriously considering time cards now and paying those employees hourly, docking and paying as necessary. I know this will upset employees because if it were added up they miss more time and get paid than they work and don't get paid. We also added to our employee handbook that no overtime will be paid unless it is prior approved and written by the branch manager. Can anyone provide some advise for me. I don't want to upset employees nor do I want to worry about overtime.
Comments
Additionally, you must compensate the cashier who does not balance at the end of the day and stays to figure out their errors since they are working during this time period. You will also be responsible to pay any non-exempt employee coming in on a Saturday to get caught up since you would be hard pressed to set forth the "volunteer" argument with the Department of Labor.
Check out the link below for futher guidance and best of luck. Your employees will learn to adapt as will you.
[url]http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs23.htm[/url]
It is not ok to just pay a salary to everyone and consider everyone as EXEMPT from the FLSA. You or someone needs to do a real audit of your positions to determine who is EXEMPT and who is non-exempt.
The fact that someone can not balance their drawer and must stay late to get it balanced is a performance issue. The Bank, I assume, does not have the liberty to declare that this person will not be paid when it is her/his fault that a drawer does not balance. The Exempt can come and go all day long, including week-ends but the non-exempt can also volunteer to come in and do work, but when they do their time must be recorded and paid for the time worked.
Each week of a month stands alone for pay purposes: we pay weekly, so we don't have to worry about this. In my previous HR position we paid Bi-weekly but the hours spent doing the work stood on their own. Meaning you can not mix the hours in one week to calculate pay in the 2nd week.
I have never been in a private organization that pays by the month. I assume you can do that but every hour must be calculated in the week in which the bank permitted the work to be accomplished.
This is basic HR 101 material and your attorney is evidently not in the know or he failed HR 101 basics.
PORK
If a nonexempt employee works more than 40 hours in a work week, you owe them overtime. You pay them even if they worked it unbeknownst to you and even if it was against your wishes. If they worked the hours, you have to pay them.
When you have people earning OT because they need to "catch up" or because they "made an error during the day", you treat these as performance issues and follow your disciplinary steps all the way to termination if you have to.
The DOL does not treat wage and hour issues lightly. Their fines make OSHA fines look like milk money. kkoehler, I think if you explain to your employees why you are doing what you are doing and the consequences to the company and the employees of NOT doing it, they'll understand. They might grumble, but they'll understand. If you are fair and consistent with your people, you'll do fine.
Good luck.
Good luck...
We are pretty linient around here. Often times, breakfast is bought by the company, mid afternoon ice-cream with fellowship time to eat it together,and many times lunch is purchased by the company. We have a rather relaxed atmosphere and the boss doesn't mind so long as everyone respects what their responsibilities are and gets them done.
Pork
Good luck...
Of course, if you're in an industry where everyone -has- to be at their post for their entire shift (customer service, factory line worker, etc.), this probably wouldn't work for you.
Please note this is NOT "comp time." Compensatory time is available in Missouri only for firefighters and police officers and such. Comp time is accrued over a period of weeks or months, and they get time and a half off in compensation for working over their schedule.