Labor laws for Minnesota exempt employees

Factual Questions
1

I’m not asking for legal advice, I’m asking for help finding information on what the laws are.

Here’s the question: can an employer deduct time away from the office (meaning being out of the building for an hour or so) from the employee’s vacation time and/or sick leave without the employees knowledge?

This is the state of Minnesota and for a person on salary.

I’ve been searching for information on the topic but am getting nowhere fast. Do people on salary have any legal protection at all?

2

http://www.doli.state.mn.us/pdf/minwage_broc_05.pdf

Here is the basic flyer. It doesn’t answer your question, but it does give the phone numbers to call for more info.

Unless the employer is somehow exempt from federal law, the fair labor standards act probably controls your situation.

BTW, the fact that you are salaried does not automatically mean you are exempt:http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs17.htm

3

Thank you.

4

I am not a labor law lawyer in Minnesota or anywhere else nor am I a lawyer at all. However, I have read lots of these threads and the supporting material. I am fairly certain that your employer cannot treat you like you are hourly for one purpose and exempt for another just because that gives them the best advantage. That is what they seem to be doing here. Exempt employees generally don’t get overtime and that is supposed to compensate for the days when you have to step out of the office for an hour.

Other people have had this problem and it appears not to be legal. Here is the law that talks about partial day docking (generally not allowed).

http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_541/29CFR541.118.htm

Here is a discussion of something similar:

http://www.laborlawtalk.com/showthread.php?t=78320

5

Here is the part of the federal law that seems to apply. Your salary can’t get docked for partial days as a salaried employee:

(2) Deductions may be made, however, when the employee absents

himself from work for a day or more for personal reasons, other than
sickness or accident. Thus, if an employee is absent for a day or longer
to handle personal affairs, his salaried status will not be affected if
deductions are made from his salary for such absences.

6

Thanks for all the links. I’m looking into it for a coworker, looks like she can get back pay by filing a claim, if the company doesn’t pay it voluntarily.