Employers should be careful how they deal with absenteeism by exempt employees.
Don’t dock an exempt employee’s paycheck for missing less than one full day of work because it could destroy their exemption and entitle them to time-and-a-half for all overtime they have worked in the past or work in the future. However, the FLSA does allow for partial day absences to be paid through an employee’s accrual bank of PTO, Vacation, or Sick hours. The only exception for docking a salary exempt employees pay for a partial day absence is if the absence is covered by the FMLA, and the employee has exhausted their accrual bank hours.
Full Day deductions of pay from a salary exempt employee are allowed only under the following circumstances:
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During the initial or final week of employment the employees pay may be reduced to reflect the actual hours worked.- Full-day absences for personal reasons.
- Full day absences for disciplinary suspension for safety violations.
- Full day absences in which an employee has exhausted their entitled Paid Leave plan balances.
- FMLA Absences.
Two other attendance issues protected by law are employees called to jury duty and employees who request time off for religious reasons. State and federal laws generally require employers to give workers leave when called to serve on a jury. And employers may have to bend their attendance rules to accommodate a worker’s religious practices or beliefs.
A key to curbing abuse is to have an absenteeism policy that clearly sets forth which absences are allowed, and what behavior will subject the employee to discipline.
