Any Exempt Salaried Employees have any insight?

[jayfire]

Thought I would ask on here, since I am not getting any clarification from HR or anyone else. Being a salaried employee, FLSA states that you are not held to the standards of a 40 hour work week. You could possibly work more, which I understand. From what I have been told from our HR director, before she passed away last month, was as long as you came in for at least 2 hours for work, you could leave and still get paid for the full day. New management has come in and are trying to require salaried employees to work a minimum of 40 hours a week, which makes sense, but the way they are requiring it has me questioning if they know the policy at all. If you have a doctors appointment and have to take off 4 hours early, you can not use vacation or personal leave to make up for that 4 hours (hourly employees only.) Now, they want us to make up the 4 hours sometime during the week. So come in on a Saturday or stay late everyday to make up that 4 hours. Work 60 hours next week, but 36 hours this week, you still need to make up that 4 hours this week. Its either take a full day off and use leave, or take a few hours off and have to work later or weekends to make up your hours. Anyone ever deal with something like this? Waiting for us to hire a new HR director that would hopefully have some experience. Thanks

 

[1967coronet440]

Salaried employees are typically based off 40hr work week unless stated otherwise in your offer letter. My offer letter states $x for 40 hours. Although being in management of a 24/7 operation we typically work a lot more (I consider taking calls/texts/emails at home or after hours, as hours worked)

 

[ksurfer2]

It is my understanding that exempt employees are paid for work they do, not hours they work. Being an exempt employee does not necessarily mean an employer cannot require you to be "in the office" (this means a lot of different things) for 40 hours per week. I have been an exempt employee for 20 years. I have been lucky to have employers who understand that I work many non-traditional hours, so if I need a couple hours to go to the doctor, or just away from the office, that I don't need to make that up. Now, this is something I have never abused. However, I have seen others abuse it and requirements for their time off change.

My wife is also an exempt employee, her employer does require her to take paid leave or make up hours she is not in the office.

I guess it is up to the employer to manage how they see fit.

 

[73HEMI_RR_GTX]

Thought I would ask on here, since I am not getting any clarification from HR or anyone else. Being a salaried employee, FLSA states that you are not held to the standards of a 40 hour work week. You could possibly work more, which I understand. From what I have been told from our HR director, before she passed away last month, was as long as you came in for at least 2 hours for work, you could leave and still get paid for the full day. New management has come in and are trying to require salaried employees to work a minimum of 40 hours a week, which makes sense, but the way they are requiring it has me questioning if they know the policy at all. If you have a doctors appointment and have to take off 4 hours early, you can not use vacation or personal leave to make up for that 4 hours (hourly employees only.) Now, they want us to make up the 4 hours sometime during the week. So come in on a Saturday or stay late everyday to make up that 4 hours. Work 60 hours next week, but 36 hours this week, you still need to make up that 4 hours this week. Its either take a full day off and use leave, or take a few hours off and have to work later or weekends to make up your hours. Anyone ever deal with something like this? Waiting for us to hire a new HR director that would hopefully have some experience. Thanks

I was an exempt salary employee for over 33 years. Never heard of or allowed to show up for work, work two hours go home and get paid for eight. You were expected to work at least a 40 hour work week. So if you had to leave work for personal business, you had to make it up that work week or take vacation or sick leave for the missed work time. At which you needed boss approval. Also if we were working a program that was behind schedule and over budget and constantly had to work more than 48 hrs a week mandatory for months we would get some comp. time hours on the books to use at a later date in lieu of pay. But it was never hour for hour since being salary you are expected to be flexible and put in more hours when needed. That’s why the Company pays a larger salary to exempt employees.

 

[jayfire]

Our AR's (Administrative Regulations) state that exempt employees are not held to the standard of 40 hour work weeks in one paragraph, then states their compensation is not calculated on the basis of hours worked. I guess its all in how you interpret it, and upper management always wins

 

[jayfire]

I was an exempt salary employee for over 33 years. Never heard of or allowed to show up for work, work two hours go home and get paid for eight. You were expected to work at least a 40 hour work week. So if you had to leave work for personal business, you had to make it up that work week or take vacation or sick leave for the missed work time. At which you needed boss approval. Also if we were working a program that was behind schedule and over budget and constantly had to work more than 48 hrs a week mandatory for months we would get some comp. time hours on the books to use at a later date in lieu of pay. But it was never hour for hour since being salary you are expected to be flexible and put in more hours when needed. That’s why the Company pays a larger salary to exempt employees.

This is a municipality I work for. I wonder if policies differ from private industry or not. I was told by HR back in January, when I had COVID, that if I answered an email or call during the day (work related) I was to be paid full days wages and nothing about making up hours. Now that she passed away, no one can find any policies or memo's to prove or disprove this idea. My problem is, I have to do a employee evaluation and management want me to put that he takes off early occasionally, but I can't ding him for something that was the norm.

 

[Budnicks]

Depends on the contract...
Depends on your agreement...

most salary or exempted employees/people I know
work more than 40hr work week almost always
dedication to the job or company
work until the job is fulfilled, supposed to equal out time spent
but most all salaried/exempt employees I knew/know worked more
than hourly employees

many were compensated well for it too

From my experience, I saw it a lot in the
automotive dealership business/facility management
& real-estate/construction industry
some were/are very well compensated for it too
some of their salaries, 'shows them pay for the loyalty',
for the extra time spent, extra efforts, is why many are
exempt or salaried too
most don't try to ditch work or less hrs
that I knew of anyway

It really depends on the specific situation
I was salaried in consulting for a specific group
I was required to give them 40hrs a month min. of consultation
I did it really for the benefits & perks belonging to the company
profit-sharing & 401k matching etc.
I still ran my own business, it was more an insurance policy
for nearly 35 years for the slow times...
I knew income was coming in
like thru mid Dec. thru mid March, not much construction
or facility management projects going on during that 100 day period


good luck
to each their own

 

[Mark Barnes]

Thought I would ask on here, since I am not getting any clarification from HR or anyone else. Being a salaried employee, FLSA states that you are not held to the standards of a 40 hour work week. You could possibly work more, which I understand. From what I have been told from our HR director, before she passed away last month, was as long as you came in for at least 2 hours for work, you could leave and still get paid for the full day. New management has come in and are trying to require salaried employees to work a minimum of 40 hours a week, which makes sense, but the way they are requiring it has me questioning if they know the policy at all. If you have a doctors appointment and have to take off 4 hours early, you can not use vacation or personal leave to make up for that 4 hours (hourly employees only.) Now, they want us to make up the 4 hours sometime during the week. So come in on a Saturday or stay late everyday to make up that 4 hours. Work 60 hours next week, but 36 hours this week, you still need to make up that 4 hours this week. Its either take a full day off and use leave, or take a few hours off and have to work later or weekends to make up your hours. Anyone ever deal with something like this? Waiting for us to hire a new HR director that would hopefully have some experience. Thanks

You are hopefully in control of your (work) destiny. If your salaried position is based on 40 hrs., then management figures you owe them 40 hrs. Keep in mind you need to control the amount of hrs. you put in beyond 40 hrs., so everything stays...equal. Or find a new gig where you work from home. There's lots of them these days.

 

[Cojohnso1]

I'm exempt. I work with some that are non-exempt. They get O.T for hours worked over 40/week. I only get comp time (straight pay time) And only if pre-approved. One advantage I have is as "Exempt?" I can borrow hours a head from the 2 week payroll or take time off if already over. Non-exempt must total 40 hours per week. If not? Pay deduct. Thus more flexibility as Exempt.

 

[Billccm]

The old saying "there's not much difference between the spelling of salary and slavery".
My experience has been that you are expected to get the job done regardless of hours worked. This means a 10 or 12 hour day is the norm.

 

[Cojohnso1]

The old saying "there's not much difference between the spelling of salary and slavery".
My experience has been that you are expected to get the job done regardless of hours worked. This means a 10 or 12 hour day is the norm.

In my field the job is never "Done" Only more and more.

 

[#41]

This is a municipality I work for. I wonder if policies differ from private industry or not. I was told by HR back in January, when I had COVID, that if I answered an email or call during the day (work related) I was to be paid full days wages and nothing about making up hours. Now that she passed away, no one can find any policies or memo's to prove or disprove this idea. My problem is, I have to do a employee evaluation and management want me to put that he takes off early occasionally, but I can't ding him for something that was the norm.

For a muni, you should be able to get access to full HR rules. It's public info. Someone's word means nothing. Find the print HR rules and follow them. That's how you are sure that you can backup that you are being fair.

I also spent part of my career working for a muni utility as exempt salaried. Our HR rule said that you had to work a min of 4 hrs a day and could still get paid for 8. The only stipulation was that you had to inform (not ask permission) your superior if you were out of the office under this scenario.

Of course, most of us worked 50 hours a week plus because it was the only way to get your job done (is the job really ever done when you are on salary?!). I would occasionally take advantage of the rule to go to an appointment and not have to put down leave and nobody ever questioned it because they knew we all put in so much time.

 

[Pikser]

My company has multiple offices is different States and Countries.
You should check what your state classification for exempt.

 

[gkent]

I was a salaried "manager". The policy in the company (50,000 employees worldwide) was you did what it took to meet the goals and objectives. That said, if you were new to a position it went without saying that you'd put in some long hours but that would level out eventually. Also, we tended to work our asses off during the fall and winter months then would take Friday afternoons off all summer. Doctor appointments, etc were just taken - no questions asked. I didn't work in the same facility as my boss but he would call around 11:30 on Fridays for a weekly recap 'cause he know I'd be leaving at noon. For the last ten years I worked for that company I never showed up before 10 unless I had a meeting. BUT I always considered it a 24/7 job and was always thinking of how we could improve. They say if you have a job you like you'll never work a day. For 23 years I never worked a day and I suspect a good number of the 50,000 employees felt the same.

For what its worth, my employees were all "hourly". if they needed time off for the doctor or dentist they got it - not having to make it up but if they did work an equal number of o/t hours the same week they were not paid time and a half. I also had a rule that if you worked o/t and banked the time you could only bank it hour for hour. My reasoning being that I would have to pay someone time and a half to cover for them and I wasn't about to pay time and a half twice for the same hour. All o/t had to be pre-approved so if they didn't like my rule, they didn't get the o/t.

 

[gkent]

Adding to my last post, the last company I worked for were a bunch of Jap pricks in the automotive industry. Again, salaried management. Thirteen hour days were the norm - no paid o/t. Time off for ANY reason was deducted from your vacation time or your paycheck. They had a 50% employee turnover PER YEAR !!!

 

[padam]

"Yeah I'm going to need you to come on Sunday too."

 

[YY1]

If you can take 8 hours of PTO (paid time off) for the whole day why the F can't you take 4 hours of PTO for a half day?

I was "exempt" for 15 years.

They want at least 40 hours one way or the other- work or PTO if you have it.

If you don't have the PTO, then you make up the work.

 

[buenavides]

Well, I've been dealing with the same work set up for 4 years now.

 

[73HEMI_RR_GTX]

Being salary exempt and what you are allowed to do depend a lot with the relationship you have with your supervisor. I supervised both union and exempt employees. Depending on the individual employee and their work ethic and attitude I would give slack when needed. If they went the extra mile when needed to get the job done. I rewarded as much as I could with exceptions to policy.

 

[copper67sat]

I have been an exempt employee for 34 yrs for 2 different government contractors and have seen the rules change based on corporate policy so I don't think it's fully dictated by law. The original company required 40 hrs/wk on our time cards - no more, no less even if you worked over 40. We could take up to 40 hrs per year of personal time for Dr's appts, etc., but the expectation was you only used as much of this time as needed and not the whole 40. Then they changed to a "total time reporting" structure where we recorded all the hrs we worked, but still had to have at least 40/wk of either work or absence time.

My division was sold to another company about 8 yrs ago. Their rules are different No more personal time - vacation or sick only, but if you are salary-exempt and work at least 4 hrs in a day then you don't record anything for the missing time and don't have to have 40/wk.