help: overtime/hourly/salary confusion

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by AlphaGamDiva

if anyone can answer this or tell me where to get the info, PLEASE help me!

i am a hairdresser. i technically work on salary. however, if we are slow and i get sent home, i lose pay. yet if i stay past my hours, i don't get paid for the extra time. salary gets treated like salary when you work over, but like hourly when you get sent home. is that acceptable?? i didn't think that was how salary worked. don't you get paid no matter what? sometimes you're busy and work 80 hours, sometimes you're not and work 30, but don't you get paid the same? it's a privately owned business so i don't know if the same rules apply, but lordy. i have to work a certain amount of hours for insurance, but i DON'T HAVE INSURANCE through my work, so that rule does not apply to me.

sorry, i've just been trying to find answers online with no luck. so i thought i would try here....gc normally has SOMEone with an answer to anything. thanks!

Your employer needs to decide if you are exempt status (salaried) or non-exempt (hourly, and thus subject to minimum wage & overtime laws). He or she can't have it both ways, and it sounds like that is what's happening. Call a labor lawyer if you want more specific information (and firsthand knowledge), but in the meantime, refer your boss to this page on the Kentucky Wage and Hour Regulations website: http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/KAR/803/001/070.htm (you're in KY, right?)

Scroll down to Section 10:

Section 10. Salary Basis. (1)(a) An employee will be considered to be paid "on a salary basis" within the meaning of this administrative regulation if the employee regularly receives each pay period on a weekly, or less frequent basis, a predetermined amount constituting all or part of the employee’s compensation, which amount is not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality or quantity of the work performed. Subject to the exceptions in subsection 2 of this section, the employee shall receive his or her full salary for any week in which the employee performs any work without regard to the number of days or hour worked. Exempt employees need not be paid for any workweek in which they perform no work.
(b) An employee shall not be considered to be "on a salary basis" if deductions from the employee’s predetermined compensation are made for absences occasioned by the employer or by the operating requirements of the business. Accordingly, if the employee is ready, willing and able to work, deductions shall not be made for time when work is not available.
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(4) Effect of improper deductions from salary.
(a) An employer who makes improper deductions from salary shall lose the exemption if the facts demonstrate that the employer did not intend to pay employees on a salary basis. An actual practice of making improper deductions demonstrates that the employer did not intend to pay employees on a salary basis. The factors to consider if determining whether an employer has an actual practice of making improper deductions include, but are not limited to: the number of improper deductions, particularly as compared to the number of employee infractions warranting discipline; the time period during which the employer make improper deductions; the number and geographic location of managers responsible for taking the improper deductions; and whether the employer has a clearly communicated policy permitting or prohibiting improper deductions.
(b) If the facts demonstrate that the employer has an actual practice of making improper deductions, the exemption is lost during the time period in which the improper deductions were made for employees in the same job classification working for the same managers responsible for the actual improper deductions. Employees in different job classifications or who work for different manager shall not lose their status as exempt employees. Thus, for example, if a manager at a company facility routinely docks the pay of engineers at that facility for partial-day personal absences, then all engineers at that facility whose pay could have been improperly docked by the manager lose the exemption; except engineers at other facilities or working for other manager, remain exempt.
(c) Improper deductions that are either isolated or inadvertent shall not result in loss of the exemption for any employees subject to the improper deductions, if the employer reimburses the employees for the improper deductions.
(d) If an employer has a clearly communicated policy that prohibits the improper pay deductions specified in this section and includes a complaint mechanism, reimburses employees for any improper deductions, and makes a good faith commitment to comply in the future, the employer shall not lose the exemption for any employees unless the employer willfully violates the policy by continuing to make improper deductions after receiving employee complaints. If an employer fails to reimburse employees for any improper deductions or continues to make improper deductions after receiving employee complaints, the exemption is lost during the time period in which the improper deductions were made for employees in the same job classification working for the same managers responsible for the actual improper deductions. The best evidence of a clearly communicated policy is a written policy that was distributed to employees prior to the improper pay deductions by, for example, providing a copy of the policy to employees at the time of hire, publishing the policy in an employee handbook; or publishing the policy on the employer’s Intranet.
(e) This subsection shall not be construed in an unduly technical manner so as to defeat the exemption.