Comments on: Answers to tricky HR questions: Cutting exempts working hours/pay

By: Ben

Ben — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 02:32:27 +0000

I am an exempt salaried employee working as a manager of a retail site. My question is this: If I am asked to work in another location in (addition to working my regular schedule in my own location) as a clerk should i be paid a minimum wage for doing so, performing no managerial work, just helping out a fellow location than needs associate help.

If not I will just shorten my work week by leaving early i guess.

thanks,
ben

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:47:16 +0000

Yes the fear of retaliation from my boss, by reporting it to DOL. I am not the only perosn in my office that this is happening to but while we were in a meeting with other centers in different states that we own she clearly stated to all HR persons that if an ee works 4 out of 5 days that we should not dock them for the day. I do have sick days left and no vacation days left and had to borrow from 2010 vacation time to cover what we call RCO (Reduced Center Operations) which means that the company will be closed for two or three days of a week and that the ee must use vacation time to cover the days that the office is closed so the ee will be paid for the whole week. Unfortunately next week the office will be closed November 23 to the 27th two days will be paid as they are company holidays which are the 26th and the 27th. That means that we who have no vacation days left will have to take unpaid days. This will also happen in December as well. If out other HR personnell does not dedcut from salaried Ee’s whyy does she. My thing is that when we as salaried ee come in early or are requested to stay somedays till 8 pm then she should compensate us fo that if she is deducting our time. Funny thing is that she is a payroll manager.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:29:07 +0000

Sam: Do you have any earned PTO, Vacation or Sick time that you can use to pay for this time off? If not, then only whole days may be unpaid. The two hours at the end of the day must be paid! If you do not have paid time off left or are too new to have any, then they can legally deduct the two whole days you were off. I personally would not deduct these two days because it send the wrong message. If your boss insists on docking you for the two hours, you can contact Wage and Hour to file a complaint. Your boss is treating you as an hourly employee, not an exempt employee. If you work over 40 hours in any weeks, ask him for overtime. He can’t have it both ways. You are either exempt or non-exempt. This can’t change each week or with each circumstance.

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:44:29 +0000

I have a question, I am a SALARIED EXEMPT Human Resources Generalist and if anyone could explain this to me I would welcome it. I worked 5 out of the 7 hours I was supposed to and I was told that I needed to record 2 hours unpaid.
On 9/8/09 my apartment was robbed and I was docked (I worked the rest of the week.
On 11/6/09 I was out of the office due to a planned trip out of the country as well as on 11/9/09. Note that I worked the rest of the weeks (4 days each week.

I have been docked a total of 23 hours and I wanted to know if my boss is violating the FMLA guidelines for salaried exempt employees, if so what can I do

By: Kathy

Kathy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:48:40 +0000

We have an exempt employee who has exhausted all PTO. If she takes a full day off, can we deduct this day from her pay? I believe that if she takes a partial day off, we cannot deduct, but a full day we can–

By: Ann

Ann — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:00:58 +0000

Is it legal to make employees work 5 days with a 20% reduction in salary?

By: Mary

Mary — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:55:18 +0000

The salary change can be in effect for as long at the company deems it necessary – as well they can make it permanent. The one thing I would make sure of if you are esxempt and your hours were cut – do you still meet the minimum pay threshold for an exempt worker? The federal minimum is $455 per week. In New York, the minimum is $536.10 per week. You should check if your state is different from the federal minimum. If your salary falls below that rate, you cannot be classified as exempt.

By: Cristal

Cristal — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:05:20 +0000

I have a question: I am an exempt employee. My salary was cut by 20%, but the company also asked me to work less hours. I signed a Personnel Action Form (PAF) stating the change was temporary. How long can the salary cut be in effect? Can the company legally decide to make the cut salary permanent?

By: Liz Hedrick

Liz Hedrick — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:56:47 +0000

If we reduce exempt and non-exempt employee salaries by 2% (due to budget issues), but provide each employee with 5 days of personal leave, (which will be a new benefit) may we allow the exempt employees to take personal leave as they wish (by the day), rather than requiring them to take five full days at once?

By: Mary

Mary — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:04:26 +0000

Yes, you can do either.