Salaried Employee & PA

[LDP]

I know that being "salaried" is a method of payment. i.e. meaning exempt and getting no overtime.

I have an employer who will not pay "salaried" employees overtime for hours over 40 (or 50 or 80 or whatever) but will DOCK their pay if they work LESS than 40.

Is this legal?

Two people have told me the following:
1. In PA, salaried employees are required to work 50 hours a week.
2. The only a "management position" i.e. managing people can be a salaried position and they just can't designate any position as salaried to avoid OT.
3. Salaried means you work when and how long they say and you don't get OT and they can dock your pay.

[cbg]

Several issues here:

I know that being "salaried" is a method of payment. i.e. meaning exempt and getting no overtime.

Yes, salaried is only a pay method. Yes, an exempt employee does not get overtime. However, not everyone who is salaried is exempt and not everyone who is exempt is salaried; a non-exempt employee may be paid on salary if they are also paid overtime; exempt employees who fall into some professional categories (lawyers, doctors, some computer professionals) can be paid hourly without it affecting the exempt position.

I have an employer who will not pay "salaried" employees overtime for hours over 40 (or 50 or 80 or whatever) but will DOCK their pay if they work LESS than 40. Is this legal?

It may be. There are no circumstances whatsoever in which the law requires an exempt employee to be paid overtime (for the moment we'll assume that the salaried employees are exempt). However, there are a few instances in which an exempt employee can have their pay docked; (a) if it is the first or last week of employment and the employee does not work the entire week (b) if the employee is on FMLA (c) if the employer offers a reasonable number of paid sick days and the employee calls in sick when they either have used all the time they are entitled to or are not yet eligible for the paid benefit (d) if the employee takes a full day off for personal reasons (e) if the employee has been suspended for a major safety violation (f) if the employee has been suspended for the violation of a written company policy which applies to all employees and which relates to workplace conduct (violence in the workplace, sexual harassment, drugs/alcohol in the workplace, etc.)

The ONLY instance where an exempt employee can be docked in partial day increments is (b). FMLA can be taken, unpaid, in either full or partial day increments. In all other cases, without exception, the employee must be paid for a full day if they work any part of the day. In all states but CA and WA, and even sometimes there, an employer can substitute paid vacation, sick or personal time to cover all absences (I believe WI requires the employee's permission to use vacation time for FMLA, but that's the only other exception I know of).

1. In PA, salaried employees are required to work 50 hours

That's up to the employer. The law does not say that salaried employers are required to work 50 hours; the law does not forbid the employer from requiring a salaried employee to work 50 hours.

2. The only a "management position" i.e. managing people can be a salaried position and they just can't designate any position as salaried to avoid OT.

It is not correct that only management positions qualify to be exempt. It is correct that they can't just designate any position as salaried to avoid OT. The position must fall into one of the categories designated as exempt by the DOL - only one of those categories (the Executive) has supervising other employees as a mandatory function of the exemption

3. Salaried means you work when and how long they say and you don't get OT and they can dock your pay.

ANY position, regardless of how it is paid, means that you work when and how long they say - the only difference is whether you do or do not get overtime. (There are a very few, very specific exceptions such as truck drivers or airline pilots, where safety laws limit the number of hours they can work.) It is correct that exempt employees do not get overtime. It is correct that, in the circumstances listed above BUT NO OTHERS, an exempt employee can be docked.

Salaried and exempt are not synonymous.