More an exempt employee question -- but this seemed the right forum. If it belongs elsewhere please let me know.

I believe I am an exempt employee (professional, far exceeding FSLA weekly pay guidelines).

I think my confusion stems from 'exempt' vs. 'salaried' combined with the time keeping rules set by my company.

1. All time worked must be reported in an online software tracking system.

2. I must work a minimum of 8 hours a day.

3. If I work more than 8 hours in a day I must prorate the time back to 8 hours. (If working one project reduce total hours to 8; if working 2 projects cut even proportion from each, and so on).

4. If I work less than 8 hours I must get special release from my manager and record any missing hours as "leave without pay" -- in this case my paycheck is docked for the missing time.

5. Even though I was hired at a yearly rate (which I think of as salaried) my paycheck shows an hourly rate. That is the rate that would be used if my pay needs to be docked for missing hours.

So in essence, I must always work at least 40 hours every week, often more. If I work more than 40 hours I must still report only 40 hours. I do not get overtime. If I work less than 40 hours it's a potential issue (which I do believe is my employer's right) and my pay gets docked (which is what I think may be illegal).

If I am an exempt employee can my employer doc me for working < 40 hours? It doesn't seem fair, but it could still be legal.

Thanks for any help,
-Tia

I will operate on the assumption that you truly are exempt.

You CAN be required to work whatever number of hours the employer wants. You CANNOT have your paycheck docked if you work less than 40 hours. You CAN have you vacation, personal or other paid leave docked to make up the difference.

If you are exempt, with limited exceptions you must be paid your full salary for every week in which you do any work at all; however, neither the Commonwealth of Massachusetts nor the US Federal government cares one whit what the employer does with your paid leave.

Agreed with what CBG said. I can include a pointer to the Exempt Salaried docking rules. (http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_541/29CFR541.602.htm)

Just a thought, but not all Exempt employees are always subject to the Salaried Basis requirement. I am not saying that this is true for OP, but some of the sub-classifications for the Professional exception are not subject to the Salaried Basis requirements. Doctors, lawyers, RNs, and teachers to name a few of the exceptions.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/fairpay/fs17d_professional.pdf

Any employee can be made to record time accounting information. Some people think that Exempt employees cannot be made to record time accounting information. Those people are wrong.

As far reporting false time accounting information, that is complicated. The time accounting requirement is legally imposed on employers, not employees. If the employee wants to keep an accurate record of time worked, and they probably should, keep it at home in a paper notebook. If the employee is legally Exempt Salaried, it is probably a "who cares", but it does not hurt. If the employee however is Exempt something-other-then-salaried or Non-Exempt anything, then the time records could come in handy. If the employer was dumb enough to put the "falsify the time accounting instruction" in writing, that would be worth (IMO) keeping a copy of at home, just in case.

Thank you both for the quick and thorough replies... and the links to related info.

I guess the issue then is if I have paid leave available they can dock against that.... I had not heard that as an option (and it's not very desirable anyway), but it makes better sense.

I have no problem with them requiring us to log our time.... it's not my favorite or first choice, but I would do it in these circumstances and don't fault them for it, and mostly don't begrudge them either. ;-)

As for falsifying time keeping.... to be clear, I believe the official policy is that we must work at least 8 hours every day... and when we work more we prorate back. I'm not sure if prorate = falsify, but I suspect this company is big enough that they are doing things legally, although at times I do wonder. Nice idea to keep a copy of the policy for just in case.

If I can push my luck, can someone give a few sentences (or a pointer) to what being 'Salaried' means?

I think in the past I had always thought Salaried = Exempt... but after reading other posts here and elsewhere I think that while they may be related they are distinct. If that's best for a different thread let me know and I'll post again.

Salaried and exempt are not synonyms. Salaried is a pay method. Exempt is a status under the FLSA. Most but not all exempt employees are salaried; many but not all non-exempt employees are paid by the hour.

Salaried has no legal status whatsoever. Exempt does.

I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by, pro-rate the time back, so I can't comment on the legality.

I think I understand. Many thanks.

As for the pro-rating, probably best not to dwell. I think that's a different issue for a different forum. I only mentioned it again since the original responses mentioned falsifying of time reporting.

I appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions.

Cheers,
-Tia