Exempt employee takes ‘snow day’: Can you deduct salary?

January 30, 2012 by Christian Schappel

Posted in: Employment law, FLSA, In this week's e-newsletter, In this week's e-newsletter - benefits, Latest News & Views, Pay and benefits

Snow emergencies create FLSA compliance headaches. But here’s a guide that’ll keep you safe.

It doesn’t happen often, but this is the time of year when inclement weather can prevent employees from reporting to work.

When that happens, there are certain times the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) deems it’s OK to reduce employee pay.

The rules for non-exempt employees are simple: They don’t work, they don’t get paid. Although some states may have stricter rules. For example, some states require employers to pay hourly workers when they report to work as scheduled, even if there is no work available.

The rules for deducting salary from exempt employees are much more complicated.

Here’s a quick rundown of when you can and can’t deduct salary from exempt employees for missing work due to inclement weather, according wage and hour attorney Tammy McCutchen of the firm Littler Mendelson:

Office is closed

If an employer closes its doors, exempt employees’ must be paid their full weekly salaries. But employers may require workers to use their accrued paid leave, like paid vacation days or paid leave bank time.

However, if an employee has no accrued paid leave, the employee must still receive his or her full salary.

Absences when office is open

If an exempt employee fails to report to work due to inclement weather, the employer may deduct time from the person’s paid leave. In that case, the employee would be paid his or her full salary.

But if the employee has no accrued paid leave, he or she can be placed on unpaid leave for the day(s) the person fails to report to work. Any unpaid days can then be deducted from the employee’s salary.

Two caveats when placing an exempt employee on unpaid leave during weather emergencies:

Salary deductions are only permitted for full-day absences, and the deductions must be full-day deductions.
The employee must have missed work for “personal reasons.” Under the FLSA, sickness and disability are not considered “personal reasons.” But inclement weather-related absences — like when an employee experiences transportation difficulties — are counted as “personal reasons.”

Tags: deduct salary, fair labor standards act, inclement weather, rules, snow emergencies

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4 Responses to “Exempt employee takes ‘snow day’: Can you deduct salary?”

Nan Says:
January 31st, 2012 at 9:35 am
Just curious… what are the rules for a weather situation when office is open but state police/authorities have recommended that everyone stay off the roads? Plus I would think you could run into liability situations when a resulting accident or injury might be attributed to an employer requiring people to report to work when the authorities have asked people to stay home.
HR Annie Says:
January 31st, 2012 at 3:11 pm
I live in the northern part of NY, we get REALLY bad weather here. The SNOW line will always say if the office happens to open that you should use your best judgement in deciding to come to work and also remember to drive as safe as you can.

We as adults should know if we are able to brave the roads to get to the office. If you have an employer that is insisting that you come into the office when the weather does not permit you to, then I think that you REALLY should rethink the relationship that you have with your employer.
MMAN Says:
February 1st, 2012 at 9:43 am
What about situations above and beyond “state police/authorities have recommended that everyone stay off the roads”. Occasionally, authorities will acctually shut down roads and only allow those with emergencies to drive on them. I don’t think work is classified as an emergency. So what happens then?
Kristen Says:
February 2nd, 2012 at 3:08 pm
Per the article above:

Under the FLSA, inclement weather-related absences — like when an employee experiences transportation difficulties — are counted as “personal reasons.”

I would consider a road closure a transportation difficulty and getting to work not to be an emergency. If the state or county have shut down a road I would venture to say that an emergency would constitute an emergency vehicle that probably has it’s lights flashing.

I would also advise to make these types of situations that may or may not happen on a semi-regular occurrence to be outlined in your employee handbook.

And for the record … I agree with HR Annie – if you work for an employer that INSISTS you come to the office when weather is crazy enough to warrant recommendations from county and state officials to stay off the roads – a rethink is in order.