In a case where a regular status full time w/ benefits employee in Missoui has used all their vaction and they want to take a day off during one week and make it up during a differnet week; either before or after what can I do with out paying overtime. For example: they work 48 hours one week and 32 hours the next week, can I put the first 8 hours in an "erned time off to use" and then use it for the 2nd week or at a later date and not pay overtime?

What if they have vacation left but just dont want to use it for that day off and they would just rather make it up to me later and work more hours another week? To me it seems fair because I'm allowing them to do what they would like (take a day off and make it up later) but I'm worried about the leagality of it. Thanks! :confused:

For example: they work 48 hours one week and 32 hours the next week, can I put the first 8 hours in an "erned time off to use" and then use it for the 2nd week or at a later date and not pay overtime? Absolutely not. Employers MUST pay OT to non-exempt employees based on the number of hours worked in each fixed 7-day pay period. It doesn't matter if the employee is requesting this or not - it's still unlawful under federal wage and hour laws.

What if they have vacation left but just dont want to use it for that day off and they would just rather make it up to me later and work more hours another week? Same answer as above.

To me it seems fair because I'm allowing them to do what they would like (take a day off and make it up later) but I'm worried about the leagality of it. As you should be. Many, many employees have been requesting this kind of flexibility for many years now but the law does not allow time to be "flexed" across pay periods without paying overtime.

FYI, legislation to allow this sort of thing has been introduced into Congress a number of times but union lobbyists have managed to get it tabled and/or voted down.

If they WORK over 40 hours in a week, there is no way you can legally avoid paying overtime. Sorry. The best I can offer is that IF you pay bi-weekly AND IF the week they work the extra hours is the first week of the pay period, you can send them home early when they have worked the number of hours in the second week to make their usual bi-weekly wage. Ex. Employee earns $10 per hour. Employee generally works 40 hours per week, for a gross bi-weekly earning of $800. Employee works an extra six hours at $15 in the first week of the pay period, for a total of $490. In the second week of the pay period, you send the employee home when they have worked 31 hours, so that the total for the pay period is $800.

If they have vacation that they don't want to use because they want to "save" it till later, that's a real shame because it's entirely up to you whether they use it or not. They do NOT have the right under the law to decide when to use vacation time. If you want to allow them to use time unpaid, fine; a non-exempt employee never has any legal expectation of being paid when they do not work, no matter how much vacation time they may have on hand. But you are not required to let them if you feel the administration would be too difficult or that it would result in the employee taking too much time off.

I personally would not allow it because if you allow it for one and not another, you could conceivably find yourself on the wrong end of a discrimination suit. But it is not, in and of itself, illegal.

Assuming you are a private employer, and this is a nonexempt employee, no you can't. Each workweek stands alone, so time can only be made up in the same workweek. You might want to reconsider your policy of allowing unpaid days when there is time available. What can happen is that you end up having people taking lots of time off when you can't afford to have them gone.