Having it both ways....
I am a teacher for a local community college vocational school. I am salaried, and exempt. I rarely work less than 55 hours per week, and some weeks have worked in excess of 70 hours. My employer has been known to dock me for arriving 30 minutes late, even on days where I stay far past the time I am scheduled to leave.
My workplace seems happy to treat me as salaried so as not to have to pay for hours in excess of 40, but also seems equally as happy to dock my pay for time arrived late. I am told that my position as a teacher enables my employer the right to not pay for all time worked. Is this implementation in keeping with wage and labor laws?
Thanks!
Answers (1)
Your question raises some tricky issues. First, there is a general rule that docking an exempt employee's pay for less than a full day on account of absence defeats the "salaried" requirement of the exemption from overtime. However, in a fairly recent case, WEBSTER v. PUBLIC SCHOOL EMPLOYEES OF WA, 247 F.3d 910 (9th Cir. 2001), the Ninth Circuit held that requiring an employee to have the missed time deducted from sick or annual leave benefits did not defeat the exemption because it did not result in a loss of salary. The employee in that case was not a professional teacher, however, and there are some unique rules for public school teachers. I suggest you contact the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hours Division, for further information about this issue. They know the peculiar regulations governing these issues, and can investigate a claim of unpaid overtime. Be sure to explain whether your pay was simply docked or whether you were required to use sick leave or vacation time.
posted by Francis Fanning | Jan 4, 2006 12:46 PM [EST]
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