Exempt employees are those who are paid on a salaried basis and who are not entitled to overtime compensation because their primary job duties come within the "executive", "professional" or "administrative" exemption from the overtime requirement of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). One of the requirements of being an exempt employee is that the employee is paid on a "salaried" basis as opposed to an hourly basis. A salaried employee is one who is paid a predetermined amount on each pay period which cannot, except under certain circumstances, be reduced because of variations in the quality or quantity of work available. The purpose of this policy is to help employees understand how exempt compensation will be determined and the circumstances under which deductions from salary may be appropriate.
Bentley provides its employees with a bona fide benefits plan that includes vacation, sick and personal time. The FLSA is only concerned with deductions to an employee's base salary. It is permissible to substitute accrued leave for time away from work in increments of less than a full day for absences by exempt employees. Such substitutions of accrued leave to account for time away from work are not considered deductions from salary.
Exempt employees who are absent from work in excess of four hours in a day and who have not made previous arrangements with their managers to make up the time will be expected to apply four hours from their vacation, sick or personal time to those partial day absences and will be expected to record this time on the timesheet for that workday.
PERMISSIBLE DEDUCTIONS FOR EXEMPT EMPLOYEE'S SALARY:
If an employee has not yet accrued vacation, sick or personal time, or if the employee has exhausted his or her accrued leave, absences of one or more full days may be deducted from the monthly salary. Managers will be expected to counsel employees who are having excessive absences from work.
If an exempt employee serves on a jury or is on temporary military service and receives compensation for that service, the employee will receive his full weekly salary less any amounts received for that service.
An exempt employee may be penalized for a violation of a safety rule of major significance. Generally a rule of major significance is one that relates to the prevention of serious danger in the workplace.
An exempt employee may be suspended for a day or more without pay as a penalty for violation of a workplace conduct rule.
An exempt employee may also receive a partial week's salary in either the first or final week of employment reflecting the time actually worked.
An employee who takes unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) may receive a proportionate reduction in his salary for that time. Thus, if an exempt employee takes unpaid FMLA leave for three and one-half hours, his pay for that month may be reduced by three and one half hours.
Bentley intends to comply with all state and federal regulations with respect to the payment of wages. If you believe that an improper deduction was taken from your paycheck, you should immediately report your concern to the Human Resources Department. A representative from Human Resources will make a determination whether the deduction in question was proper. If we determine that the deduction was not proper, you will be reimbursed promptly for the deduction. Additionally, we will make a good faith effort to ensure that further payments comply with our policy.
Last Revised 8/3/2009