Paid Time Off wages aka PTO Maryland

[FriendInHim]

I do payroll for a small company in MD and have some questions regarding PTO wages.

The employees get 2 hours of PTO each week they work. These hours can be used however the employee chooses. ie: Vacation, Sick leave, Doctor's appts, etc. They can also choose to have the accumulated PTO hours paid out in cash.

I understand how this works for the hourly employees. They either have the time to use or they don't. BUT for salaried employees I am quite confused.

MD law states that salaried employees must be paid their full wages whether they work their full week or not. I am told by my employers that if they do not work the "full week" to automatically deduct the balance from their PTO time. Can I legally deduct hours from PTO without written consent?

Also, senerio #2...
Some of the salaried employees choose to have their PTO paid out in cash. The following week they are out sick and do not have any PTO in the bank. Am I still required to pay them their full salary?

I appreciate your input.

[CMorgan]

Sounds like a homework problem.

[Pattymd]

Ah, this time it might not be.

1. Yes, it is legal. Even if the exempt employee is out of PTO time and works a partial day, unless the absence is due to intermittent FMLA, he must be paid for the full day.

2. No, you are not. See here, specifically paragraph (a)(3)
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Ti...CFR541.118.htm

[FriendInHim]

CMorgan ~ thanks for the laugh And I thought I was out of school

PattyMD ~ thanks for the link to DOL/Gov. It was very helpful! I may have some more questions in the future...

[CMorgan]

My apologies to everyone. It just sounded like a homework question similar to one that one of our former junior payroll employee was having to work on during their training.

[FriendInHim]

Apologies accepted although I took no offense to your comment.