-If I work over 40 hours per week but I happen to have one 8 hour shift in the middle of the week where I am unable to work due to illness, can my employer make me use 8 hours of sick time even though I have already worked my 40 hours?

-Can overtime be mandatory?

-If sick time is depleted before the end of the year, can my employer dock my pay?

:o

-If I work over 40 hours per week but I happen to have one 8 hour shift in the middle of the week where I am unable to work due to illness, can my employer make me use 8 hours of sick time even though I have already worked my 40 hours?

The purpose of sick time to cover for time missed due to illness. Federal law nor state law require employers to even offer sick time. So since it's not specifically addressed by law, an employer is free to set policy and implement as sees fit. "Yes" it would be perfectly fine to require a worker to use sick time for time missed even if that worker will have 40 hours during the week.

-Can overtime be mandatory?[/qoute]

The short answer is "yes". The employer sets the work schedule and is permitted to "require" mandatory overtime. There are certain industry specific exceptions (i.e. airline pilots and truck drivers).

[quote=noOT4me;828800]-If sick time is depleted before the end of the year, can my employer dock my pay?


This will depend on your FLSA status. If you are properly classified as exempt, then the answer is "no". This assumes that you are not on intermittant FMLA and have only missed a partial day from work. Exempt workers do not qualify for overtime pay when it's worked. If you are properly classified as exempt" then teh answer is "yes".

I'd like to clarify Robb's answer.

A non-exempt employee never has to be paid for time they do not work, whether it's due to illness or not.

An exempt employee MIGHT be able to be docked for time missed due to illness. It depends on the employer's policy for paid sick time.

If an employer provides a reasonable number of paid sick days, and the employee has either used up all the days available to him or is not yet eligible for them, then the exempt employee can be docked for time missed due to illness IF he is absent for an entire day, whether FMLA applies or not. If he only misses part of a day, he must be paid for that time UNLESS the time is attributable to FMLA.

If the employer does not offer a reasonable number of paid sick days, then the exempt employee cannot be docked for time missed due to illness unless the time missed is attributable to FMLA.

If FMLA applies, then the exempt employee can be docked for either full or partial days missed regardless of the employer's policy on paid sick time.

Thank you for your responses.