An exempt employee asked to leave for an emergency earlier than his standard lunch time. (His emergency was to attend to an emergency at his tenents apartment). He returned 1.5 hours later and continued to work until the end of the day. He was planning on working extra the following day (Saturday) to finish testing his project. This was originally volunteer time but would cover his time lost due to his personal emergency.
Employer wants to dock him the pay as he was working for himself "on company time".
Can he be docked? All his hours total are well over 40....

I'm not sure I understand the question. The employee came in on his of time to do a project not related to work? If that is the case no. Example a auto mechanic on his day off stop by his employers shop,and works on his own car.
The employer does not have to pay the mechanic.
JoeC

My first instinct is, no, he cannot be docked, since the only time an employee can be docked for less than a full day is if the time is attributable to FMLA. But I have the same question as Joe; it might make a difference.

One thing that CAN be done, if this is time that he was required to be at work, is to require him to use vacation or PTO for the time.

He left his regular job earlier that 12 noon (it was his initial plan to use his lunch time - 1 hour). (he left at 10:15 am) He asked to leave and stated why, to him, it was personal business. He returned 1.5 hours later. Essentially he used 1/2 hour too much for his "emergency".
But to be a loyal employee, he put in more than 40 hours for the week and planned to come in on and extra day to finish work for the company.
He is "professional" but because his emergency is being comprehended by senior mgmnt as "working for himself" on company time, they are threatening to dock his pay (though it was not stated how much they would dock his pay, they could only deduct 1/2 hour!)

Then I would say no, he cannot be docked pay. He can be required to use vacation or personal time for that half hour, even though he worked over 40 hours.

He wasn't absent for a full day, his pay cannot be docked, but available PTO could be used.

I have never understood the idea of penalizing exempt employees who miss an hour here or there but put in way more than 40 hours in seven days by requiring them to use PTO for an hour or two.

I have never understood the idea of penalizing exempt employees who miss an hour here or there but put in way more than 40 hours in seven days by requiring them to use PTO for an hour or two.

Me either. Boy, was I :eek: when I started working for the gubmint. OTOH, I DO earn comp time. OTO worse hand, my comp time is almost at the max; right now I'm at 354 hours and the max is 400. :(

I don't understand it either, but it IS legal. Petty, but legal.