Suspending a Salaried Employee

anelr · May 2010

Hello!

I have a question. Can we suspend a salaried employee with no pay?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Anel

Cheryl S SPHR · May 2010

I'm going to take a shot at this. By salaried, I am going to assume you are talking about an employee exempt from FLSA.

Yes, you can suspend an exempt employee. However, you cannot withhold pay for any week in which some work was performed so your suspension should be a minimum of 5 work days (one week).

For non-exempts who are salaried, you may also suspend them and can do it for a day or two (or more).

JAthey · May 2010

Anel,

As Cheryl did, I will assume that you are talking about exempt employees since not all salaried employees are exempt. I will talk first about suspensions that are for disciplinary reasons other than serious safety violations.

The rule stated by Cheryl was true prior to 2004, which is when the DOL issued its updated white collar regulations. Under those regulations, disciplinary suspensions may now be made in increments of less than a full week. Here are the criteria for such suspensions:

1) The suspension must be imposed for a violation of your policies regarding workplace conduct.
2) The suspension must be for one or more full days.
3) The punishment must be imposed in good faith and pursuant to a written policy that's uniformly applied to all workers.

29 C.F.R. § 541.602(b)(5).

If you are wanting to discipline the employee for a violation of a safety rule of major significance, then you may do so without regard to the "full-day increment" restriction. The employee's pay may be docked in any amount for such violations. 29 C.F.R. § 541.602(b)(4).

Just to be clear, suspensions are not allowed for anything other than "workplace conduct" or major safety violations. The last time I looked at this issue, there was some question regarding whether "workplace conduct" includes performance deficiencies, absenteeism, tardiness, and so on. At the time, there was a very good argument that it did not. Perhaps someone else can pipe in on this issue who has looked at it more recently. Holly?

Let me know if you need any additional information or clarification!

Julie

Paul in Cannon Beach · May 2010

Perhaps the original poster would be willing to elaborate on the circumstances of the proposed suspension?

Cheryl S SPHR · May 2010

Thanks to Julie for the additional clarification. I think the circumstances of the specific reason for the suspension would certainly dictate whether less than week or full-day increments would apply. More info?

anelr · June 2010

Thank you so much for the information!!!! It was very helpful. You all clarified it well.

Suspending a Salaried Employee

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