My employer is currently under investigation by the D.O.L. In doing so, the D.O.L. has determined that some of the salary employees here are non-exempt. My salary is $700.00 a week based on 45 hours. I usually average about 42 - 43 hours a week. I also recieve 3 weeks of vacation (no "time" for sick or personal days), cheaper insurance and the possiblity of a bonus at our year end. My employer is in the process of making a decision about how to handle our future pay. I'd like to know if
1. They can legally change me to an hourly employee? and if so, how is my "hourly" pay rate figured - $700/45 hours or $700/40 hours?

2. Does my employer have to provide PAID sick and personal time if I'm hourly?

3. Can they deduct a full days pay from my weekly salary for a sick or personal day? If so, can they do it from the past money they have to pay without my prior knowledge?

I just need some clarification.

Thank you for your help!
gg

1. They can legally change me to an hourly employee? and if so, how is my "hourly" pay rate figured - $700/45 hours or $700/40 hours? Yes, they not only can change you but they are required to if you are non-exempt. As far as how the rate will be calculated, it will be up to the employer, as long as it isn't a way to circumvent overtime laws.

2. Does my employer have to provide PAID sick and personal time if I'm hourly? No

3. Can they deduct a full days pay from my weekly salary for a sick or personal day? If so, can they do it from the past money they have to pay without my prior knowledge? Yes, they can. If you are hourly, they can dock you hour by hour for time missed. They cannot dock you for a full day when you when only gone for a few hours. Instead, you will be docked for the hours you missed. They will not be able to dock you for the past days missed, I believe. The DOL will be supervising their calculations and payments.

Thank you for your help.

Just want to make sure I understand how my rate would be figured. When you say "as long as it isn't a way to circumvent overtime laws." can you explain?

An example is an employer changing an employee's base rate of pay each pay period to compensate for the additional overtime.

My employer just informed the group of salary "non-exempt" employees of what their NEW salary will be. Basically they took what they paid us in past OT and divided it by 106 weeks (the # of weeks looked at by the D.O.L.) and deducted my weekly pay by that amount. In that 106 week time period, D.O.L. figured out how many hours of OT was worked by each individual. Mine was 289.75 hours, which is what it takes for me to do my job based on what I worked for the past two years (on average). I was making about $700/week and it's been deducted by $20. If I work 42.5 hours a week, it will bring me back up to my current salary. They did this for all the employees. Some were only deducted by $4-$6, the other end is $20-$50 a week. That employee now has to work at least 45 hours to make his old salary and if we go on vacation or are sick a day of the week, we are paid for 40 hours, which is less than what our salary was. I know they can legally change my pay, but my employer says they are going to keep tabs on what hours are worked and if we are working too much OT or are consistently working 40 hours or less, they will readjust our salary again. I hope this makes sense. But can they do what they are doing? Please help!

Technically, no.

Any guidance on what I can do if this is how my employer plans on handling this situation?

Because Florida refers nearly all wage and hour claims to the federal government, you must begin with the US Department of Labor.