May hours and “make-up time” rules be imposed on exempt employees?
Issue: Your company expects exempt executive, administrative and professional employees to put in at least 45 hours a week and to make up partial days of personal absence. May employees be penalized for failing to meet these requirements without affecting their exempt status? Answer: Yes, provided the employees are not docked pay for failing to work the minimum number of hours or to make up the lost time. Although loss of pay is not permissible, the employer may keep track of employees’ transgressions, consider them in performance evaluations, and impose discipline, up to and including discharge. Docking pay would violate the salary-basis requirement for exempt status. Because of this, one form of discipline that is not permissible is a temporary suspension without pay. Regulations do allow suspensions for violations of workplace conduct rules. However, this exception does not cover performance or attendance issues. Exempt employees must be paid their full salary for any week in which
