ErwinFelling
10-01-2007, 01:50 PM
I have a fun one for the forum:
"Bob" is an exempt employee who is working on a special project off-site with a tight deadline and occasional long hours. As a "perk" from the employer, Bob gets to count his drive time as part of his workday. So, if it takes Bob 1 hour each way to and from work (from the office to the job site), he is only required to be at the job for 6 hours on a normal day. Hooray, Bob!
When he is required to work over 40h/wk, Bob is given a form to fill out for his supervisor to submit to the VP. This form states how many hours of OT Bob worked and when. He then can choose one of two boxes: “Bonus Vacation” or “Bonus Pay”.
The only stipulation Bob is aware of regarding vacation is that his company will not allow him to carryover >40h to next year. Oh, and he has to use or lose anything in excess of those 40 hours. He is also reminded of his company’s “work-life balance” and encouraged to use vacation.
With this in mind, he chooses “Bonus Vacation” when he works 100 hours in one pay period. The following pay period sees him choosing the same when he works another 100 hours. According to his simple math, that gives him 40 hours of vacation earned in one month. Hooray, Bob! You have time to use that vacation before the end of the year (it’s only August, at this point)!
Too bad that in a subsequent paycheck, Bob received a “Bonus Pay” he did not submit, and according to HR he is 20 hours shy of his original vacation calculations. Upon further investigation, Bob finds out that there is apparently a “cap” on how much vacation he can earn, despite the fact that he has planned to already use his newly acquired vacation and have <40 hours to carryover to next year, if any. Bob was never told of this cap, and the more he digs, the more confused he becomes. If he is offered a choice, why can’t he get what he chooses? He knows that exempt employees don’t have to be compensated for OT, but he is, and wonders if he should be happy with that, or try to find out why he can’t get more vacation if that’s what he wants? Granted, nothing is wrong with more pay, but it’s hard to tax vacation ;)
Is there governance in DE that covers additional work/wage benefits that could shed some light on Bob’s dilemma? And if he were to take the “Bonus Pay”, is there a requisite that it be time-and-a-half?
"Bob" is an exempt employee who is working on a special project off-site with a tight deadline and occasional long hours. As a "perk" from the employer, Bob gets to count his drive time as part of his workday. So, if it takes Bob 1 hour each way to and from work (from the office to the job site), he is only required to be at the job for 6 hours on a normal day. Hooray, Bob!
When he is required to work over 40h/wk, Bob is given a form to fill out for his supervisor to submit to the VP. This form states how many hours of OT Bob worked and when. He then can choose one of two boxes: “Bonus Vacation” or “Bonus Pay”.
The only stipulation Bob is aware of regarding vacation is that his company will not allow him to carryover >40h to next year. Oh, and he has to use or lose anything in excess of those 40 hours. He is also reminded of his company’s “work-life balance” and encouraged to use vacation.
With this in mind, he chooses “Bonus Vacation” when he works 100 hours in one pay period. The following pay period sees him choosing the same when he works another 100 hours. According to his simple math, that gives him 40 hours of vacation earned in one month. Hooray, Bob! You have time to use that vacation before the end of the year (it’s only August, at this point)!
Too bad that in a subsequent paycheck, Bob received a “Bonus Pay” he did not submit, and according to HR he is 20 hours shy of his original vacation calculations. Upon further investigation, Bob finds out that there is apparently a “cap” on how much vacation he can earn, despite the fact that he has planned to already use his newly acquired vacation and have <40 hours to carryover to next year, if any. Bob was never told of this cap, and the more he digs, the more confused he becomes. If he is offered a choice, why can’t he get what he chooses? He knows that exempt employees don’t have to be compensated for OT, but he is, and wonders if he should be happy with that, or try to find out why he can’t get more vacation if that’s what he wants? Granted, nothing is wrong with more pay, but it’s hard to tax vacation ;)
Is there governance in DE that covers additional work/wage benefits that could shed some light on Bob’s dilemma? And if he were to take the “Bonus Pay”, is there a requisite that it be time-and-a-half?
