sclement
04-20-2008, 08:23 AM
Like others, I am curious about situations regarding salaried/houly and exempt/non-exempt. My wife has the usual complaints about working at least 40 hours per week, but not "the right" hours, and getting docked for hours missed during the normal workday (for doctor's appointments and such).
Looking through the forums (specifically the thread posted by user Tatsu), it would appear that my wife's employer is in violation, but I wanted to make sure. She is an assistant director at a daycare (national chain based in MA, but working at a center in CO), and meets the criteria of an exempt employee (i.e., salaried, supervisory, etc). The problem comes with the definition of "salaried."
She is required to clock in and out of the center, and her pay reflects those hours rather than any reasonable understanding of "salary." According to http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/fs17g_salary.pdf, "an exempt employee must receive the full salary for any week in which the employee performs any work, regardless of the number of days or hours worked."
I have read in other places that if no vacation or sick time has accrued or is available, an employer may withhold payment for an entire day if it is missed, but if the employee works part of that day, then a full day's payment is expected. Where can I find confirmation on this point?
This daycare provider is a large national chain, and I would think that as such they would be well versed in employment law. However, I cannot reconcile what my understanding of the plain language of the law seems to be with my wife's situation.
Of course, if she is not really a salaried employee, she would like to pursue overtime. But she really has no problem with being an exempt employee as long as she is in fact really considered a salaried employee as the term is legally recognized. And if she has been shorted some money in the past, what recourse does she have to recover it?
Any insight to this situation is appreciated.
Looking through the forums (specifically the thread posted by user Tatsu), it would appear that my wife's employer is in violation, but I wanted to make sure. She is an assistant director at a daycare (national chain based in MA, but working at a center in CO), and meets the criteria of an exempt employee (i.e., salaried, supervisory, etc). The problem comes with the definition of "salaried."
She is required to clock in and out of the center, and her pay reflects those hours rather than any reasonable understanding of "salary." According to http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/fs17g_salary.pdf, "an exempt employee must receive the full salary for any week in which the employee performs any work, regardless of the number of days or hours worked."
I have read in other places that if no vacation or sick time has accrued or is available, an employer may withhold payment for an entire day if it is missed, but if the employee works part of that day, then a full day's payment is expected. Where can I find confirmation on this point?
This daycare provider is a large national chain, and I would think that as such they would be well versed in employment law. However, I cannot reconcile what my understanding of the plain language of the law seems to be with my wife's situation.
Of course, if she is not really a salaried employee, she would like to pursue overtime. But she really has no problem with being an exempt employee as long as she is in fact really considered a salaried employee as the term is legally recognized. And if she has been shorted some money in the past, what recourse does she have to recover it?
Any insight to this situation is appreciated.
