Comments on: 5 common OT mistakes getting HR in trouble

By: Donna G.

Donna G. — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:52:13 +0000

We are a small not-for-profit organization and have been told conflicting information regarding our need to classify our salaried employees. We have 23 employees, 6 of which are salaried, and would be classified as exempt. We have been told by someone that we do not have to classify our employees because we are an NPO and have less than 25 employees. Is this accurate. If you know the answer, and could please respond to my email that would be great! Thank you.
info@pathblazer.org

By: Patti L.

Patti L. — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:30:42 +0000

I’m so confused at how an employee can protect themselves. My husband is considered Manager/non-exempt. He has say in opening, closing, directing employees, ordering, etc. Is it ok to be Non-exempt? Doesn’t he have to be Exempt? Can an employer just say, no you can’t, you are non-exempt and i will dock your ck because you no longer have sick or vacation time? That is what is happening. He’s afraid to make any legal move due to being harrased or fired. But he is manager of an automotive shop. For the first time in four years, he was docked $300 for missing a day for his granddaughter’s birth which we almost lost our baby due to complications. He was told by his emplolyer he could have the next two days off also. Without being notified that he was out of sick/vacation and then was going to be docked. Can an employer do this? He insisted on meeting with her because of confusion now. She declined to meet with him until it was convinient for her. So the day he was told not to come in because she couldn’t meet with him so he’s being docked for that day now. Once meeting took place, she ended up not agreeing to put anything in a contract for him, because we are confused now as to how he is being paid. She said no and yelled at him and decided that he didn’t need to come into work until the following week. I’m afraid she will dock him the whole week. Can she do this?

By: Cate

Cate — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:01:26 +0000

These questions about using paid accrued time are baffling me as well. When the law indicates you can not deduct time for illness\injury in less than a full increment and the individual needs say 2 hours to go to the Dr why can’t we substitute 2 hrs from the accrued time off? I hope I made that clear. An exempt employee needs 2 hours sick to go to the doctor and has the time can I combine that 2 hours with the rest of his weekly pay to make his weekly salary? Thanks! Cate

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:58:21 +0000

For the salary exempt employee, our understanding from legal counsel is that if they show up they get paid for that day. I have also heard about the 4 hour mentioned in this forum. So if you have an exempt salary employee, do they just take that time as salary time (not deducted from anything)? can you legally deduct from their sick/vacation allotment?

By: Cindy

Cindy — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:25:30 +0000

I’m still at a loss……so in California, you can deduct from an exempt employee’s bank of personal,sick or vacation time if they leave work for greater than 4 hours but this isn’t neccesarily true in other states.

So the law states they can’t dock your pay based on quality or QUANTITY of work but can they dock your PTO time?

By: Mary R.

Mary R. — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:17:34 +0000

Response to Nicole – My answer was for if they had no more time available from that bank of time. We don’t deduct time for banked hours either. For exempt salaried employees we allow time off in half day increments or more from their banked time of PTO/sick time and vacation days. We would only deduct if they were out and had no more banked hours they can take and then we could only do it in full day increments, that is why the counseling sessions would be preferred. Sorry I did not make that clear. So I totally agree with your assessment!

By: Nicole

Nicole — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:16:53 +0000

According to the 2008 California Labor Law Digest, “An amendment to the DLSE Enforcement Policies and Interpretations Manual authorizes employers to charge an exempt employee’s accrued vacation/PTO bank for partial day absences of four hours or more. This may be done only if the employee has such accrued time available… Different rules apply to partial day absences due to illness for which deductions may be made from an exempt employee’s available sick leave bank without the requirement that the absence be for four hours or more.”

I am not sure how this rule plays out in state other then California, however.

By: Barb

Barb — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:09:24 +0000

I just want to point out that the job title “foreman” should be changed to something that is gender neutral.

By: Cindy

Cindy — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:59:52 +0000

The law states…”the company can’t deduct their pay based on quality or quantity of work (except when an employee misses an entire day)” This refers to deducting from their pay but what about deducting hourly increments from their personal, vacation or sick time when an exempt person leaves early or comes in late for personal reasons?

By: Debbie

Debbie — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:50:30 +0000

Question concerning #4 Administrative Assistant’s overtime. We have an Administrative Assistant who was made salary last year because she was working so much overtime (for years). She still continues to work alot of overtime because of her job duties and workload. This Administrative Assistant handles payroll, human resources, accounts payable, credentialing, building maintenance/contracts, telephone system programing, and anything her CEO or Physicians need handled. This is a large physician’s practice. This employee is always working late.

Question: Is she intitled to be paid overtime for anything over 40 hours a week?