Our office informed us via email and phone calls that they would be closing due to Hurricane Wilma. Therefore, I stayed home.

I am a salaried employee of a company with approx 20 employees.

Today we are informed that in order to be paid for the office closure we would need to use our PTO (Vacation Day). Apparently this policy is in our handbook.

My question is: Would Florida Law supercede our employee handbook in this case? And what exactly is the Florida law on office closings due to natural disaster and salaried (exempt) employees?

Any feedback is appreciated...

Would Florida Law supercede our employee handbook in this case? State or federal law will always supercede an employer's policy if the policy says one thing and the law another.

And what exactly is the Florida law on office closings due to natural disaster and salaried (exempt) employees? There is none. If your employer wishes to debit your PTO bank for the missed days, they may.

Beth3, Thank you for the prompt reply. It is really appreciated.

So If I understand correctly... Since no specific law exists to protect me from an emergency office closure, my employer can take the vacation time to pay me (or I can elect to not be paid for that one day). Eventhough they asked that I stayed home due to unsafe travel conditions and I am a salaried employee (often working over 40 hours without additional pay).

That's correct. Federal law says you must be paid. However, the law does not say that the employer cannot require the substitutution of paid leave time for the day(s) missed. This is the employer's option; not yours. Had you been out of PTO time, they still would have had to pay you, however. BTW, there is no state law on this issue; Florida defaults to federal wage and hour law for nearly every issue.

I have to mention that no law protects your employer from emergency office closure either. No laws make your employer responsible or liable for acts of God.

Yes, your understanding is correct.

Thanks again for the replies. They do make sense. I was simply looking for some validation and this site was able to help. Btw.... great site.