I've been under the impression that, for our salaried exempt workers, we are required to pay them for a full days work no matter how much time was worked that day, as long as they did some work (even if through a remote connection to work).

I understand that it may be true instead (or also) that we are required to pay them for a full WEEK no matter how much time was worked as long as they did some work during that week.

Will you please address the validity of both of these situations and correct me if my understand is wrong?

Specifically, we have a salaried exempt employee who stayed out a full day due to inclement weather, but had no accrued paid leave. They also have requested to take another day off for personal matters with pay. If we are required to pay them for a full week of work as long as they worked some during that week, it would follow that we can't dock their pay for either situation. It would also seem to negate the importance of the two weeks of paid leave we offer them (if they can take it off anyway with pay).

Thanks for your time,

VP at Clarks

Both statements can be true depending on the circumstances.

An exempt employee is paid on the basis of the value of the job to the company. They are not paid by the hour. They receive their full salary every week that they do any work at all, with limited exceptions. The exceptions are below.

An exempt employee may legally have their pay docked in the following circumstances, and the following circumstances ONLY:

1.) It is either the first or last week of their employment and they do not work the entire week
2.) The employee is on FMLA
3.) The employer offers a reasonable number of paid sick days and the employee calls in sick when they either have used all the sick days to which they are entitled, or are not yet eligible for them under company policy
4.) The employee takes a full day off for personal reasons
5.) The employee was suspended for a major safety violation
6.) The employee is suspended for the violation of a written company policy which applies to all employees and which relates to workplace conduct (drugs/alcohol in the workplace, sexual harassment, workplace violence, etc.)

If the employee does not work for ANY reason other than the above, then they must be paid for the entire week. In all states except California, and even sometimes in California, you can apply vacation, sick, personal or other paid leave time (with or without the employee's permission) but their salary must remain whole. If they are out of paid leave of the appropriate type, they must be paid anyway.

To further break it down, if the employee misses work for reasons 1 & 2 above, they only have to be paid for the time they actually worked. However, if they miss work for reasons 3-6, if they work any part of the day, they must be paid for the full day, and can only be docked if they do not work AT ALL during the workday. As above, if available, you may allow or require the use of paid leave.

Thank you for the quick reply. Will you please clarify two items:

When an employee elects not to come to work because of snow and ice but the company is open and there is work available, is that considered a day off for personal reasons? Or is that considered a sick day?

We offer two weeks of paid vacation, but nothing additional specifically called "sick days". Do the two weeks of paid vacation count as offering sick days? Since this employee has not yet accrued any of this paid vacation, are we allowed to dock her a day's pay if she calls in sick or for this absence due to inclement weather noted above? And then once she has accrued paid vacation, will she be required to use a day of vacation to cover a sick day in order to receive pay?

Thank you again, VP at Clarks

When an employee elects not to come to work because of snow and ice but the company is open and there is work available, is that considered a day off for personal reasons? Or is that considered a sick day?

It would not be a sick day because no one is sick. I would consider it a day off for personal reasons; however, I would also consider the overall circumstances. At least where I live, there can be enormous differences in the amount of ice and snow within only a couple of miles so I would consider the specifics of the case before deciding. If there was a foot of snow where the employee lived and the governor of the state was telling people not to drive if they don't have to (and assuming that the employee is considered non-essential personnel) I might consider paying them anyway, or at least allowing them to use a vacation day. If, however, there was only an inch or two and the employee could have gotten in by waiting an hour or so and coming in late, then I might consider making it an unpaid day.


As far as the second question goes, are the two weeks "vacation" understood by the employees as being required for sick days as well?

The employee handbook notes the paid vacation as "paid personal time off," so I'd say it's not clear that it doubles as sick leave. It is our intention that they take it as such if they are sick and want to be paid, but it looks like we need to make that clearer in writing.

We also have employees who live far away (the employee in question lives an hour away), and inclement weather affects her more than most of our employees. We would like to make reasonable judgements about when to pay for inclement weather absences and when not to, but I could see some trouble brewing with that. We'd rather have a firm policy about it so there is nobody calling foul... Perhaps we can state the need to use vacation days to cover when an employee decides to stay out for weather and the plant is open.

NC, more so than many states, is very definite about the need for having clearly written policies, and I emphasize the word written. Additionally, the restrictions on docking that I mentioned above are Federal, and if the days are not specified clearly as being sick days, I would not want to risk considering days that the employees understand as being vacation time, for illness.

But if we are talking about days for inclement weather, sick days do not belong in the discussion. Sick days are for when you are sick; not for when the roads are icy. So let's keep the two issues separate.

I would suggest providing at least five days that are specifically designated as sick time, and are available for no reason but sick time. That will protect you as far as #3, above, and will allow you to dock an employee who is not eligible or has already used them all. Or, as an alternate suggestion, I would increase the number of days slightly and make it absolutely clear, in writing, that they are to be used regardless of the reason for the absence. That will likewise provide protection.

While you didn't ask this, whatever your policy might be for the payout of unused vacation/personal time at termination should also be clarified in writing. NC is slightly different than most states in that unused time must be paid out unless there is a policy that says otherwise. I personally believe that unused time ought to be paid out but I'm not dictating your policy to you; simply reminding you that unless you have a clearly written policy one way or the other, sooner or later the question is bound to arise.

I have a couple of follow up questions to this issue:

1) We are trying to determine if our outside sales force is in the same category of salaried exempt employees as every other salaried exempt employee. They are given a base salary and commission.

2) Is it okay to allow our salaried exempt employee who has not accrued any paid personal time off to borrow a day from next year so we do not dock her pay? We do not want to set a precedent that first year salaried exempt employees can take paid personal leave any time they want before they have accrued proper paid vacation days. We also have a salesperson who has been taking personal days and reporting them to HR so their pay can be docked. We need everyone to be on the same page, of course.

1.) Once you get into commissions I'm leaving it for the payroll people

2.) It is "okay" in the sense that it is not prohibited by law. But take my word for it, this is an administrative nightmare that you do NOT want to open up. What do you do if she quits before the end of the year, having taken a day that she hasn't yet earned and now will never earn? It's legal, but it's a very bad idea.

Payroll people here. ;)

1. "Same" in what sense?