HR Office is Open! Part II

[lcarlson90]

Thanks so much for your reply dionysia. He is non-exempt. Typically if you are non-exempt you are only paid for hours worked but in his field it's common for the employer to pay you an annual salary regardless of how many hours are worked per week. He told me tonight that they are planning to just deduct an hour every day for travel time so they would only be paying him for 7 hours.

I guess I am confused because he doesn't have a usual work place. His office is in NJ and we live in CA. He gets calls from various hospitals and he has to drive there in a company vehicle and fix the problem. Some of these accounts are two hours away.

[dionysia]

Then his typical work location is your home. I would assume he's being paid as a CA employee who works out of his home?

Salaried, non-exempt is a valid classification, but he still needs to be paid for all hours worked, including travel time.

I would recommend that you post on the Labor Law Talk forums here:
http://www.laborlawtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1

There are folks who are more well-versed in CA labor law and the FLSA than I am who can probably give more detailed guidance about what he should do.

[Katie1]

I have a quick question- DH is in construction and is paid hourly, although he is a supervisor. So he does get time and a half when he works overtime. This week supervisors will be attending a training session on Friday. So that none of the hourly workers will lose hours, the entire company will be working ten hour days Monday-Thursday. So the supervisors will already be at 40 hours when Friday comes, and they will be getting time and a half for the training session- but not at their normal hourly rate. They will be getting paid minimum wage plus half. Does that seem right?

[dionysia]

That doesn't seem right to me.

Let me poke around and come back with more info.

[dionysia]

Well, I stand corrected. My source says that training can be paid at minimum wage.

[Katie1]

Well thanks for checking it out.

[dionysia]

More details, Katie:

The training time can be paid at a base hourly rate of minimum wage but times 1.5 (your OP said 'plus half'), under this exception in the FLSA:
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Ti...CFR778.415.htm
though
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Ti...CFR778.421.htm

So let's say base hourly rate is $20/hour.
40 * $20 = $800
8 * MA minimum wage $8.00 * 1.5 = $96

That calculation would be legal.

[Kingdono]

I have a question:

On 10-8 I was let go and on 10-9 I was offered an alternative position returned to the office on 10-13. The offer was verbal and the exact phrase was an alternative. I did not ask about any impact as I thought this would be like the let go didn't happen. (Based on my conversations with HR and the manger) Well this morning I got a request to enroll in the company health benefits and I'm being told I was impacted due to beign let go and Re-hired. If this is true wouldn't I be entitled to my severace for being let go from the first position? How do I get an all encompassed view of the impact to me?

[dionysia]

Severance is not mandated by law, except in very specific circumstances (usually involving a collective bargaining agreement - i.e., union). So they do not have to offer you severance.

I would expect if you were terminated and then rehired, you would be eligible for an initial enrollment period in the benefits. I would ask the HR department, however, if your service is going to be honored/bridged, since that would affect things like FMLA eligibility, 401(k) match vesting, and PTO accrual.

[Rosebud]

Here's a question. HR is required to give notice to employees when their benefits are changed, correct? What is the potential impact for a company if they fail to notify a large number of employees of a benefits change? Could they be sued or fined by the state or something?