Ask Me Help Desk - Docked pay because PTO is gone, but I am a salary employee. Can he do this?

:confused: I am a salary employee in the state of NY.
I have 15 days of PTO(paid time off)
I just got a email from my boss telling me he docked me 3 days pay, because I was over my 15 day limit of PTO.
Is it legal for him to do this?
It was my assumption that as salary employees you got paid for time worked no mater what.

Also I get paid salary the 15 if it falls on a Saturday I get paid the Friday before on a Sunday the Monday after. This past 15 I did not get paid... it took a full week for my direct deposit to come in, and it was only a partial payment a there was a screw up with our Payroll Co. IS this legal?

Do you get paid overtime?

If yes then most likely yes you are salary but they break it down by the hour and would charge you for those 3 days off.

If no then you may need to have a chat with HR

Quote:

Originally Posted by andie281973

:confused: I am a salary employee in the state of NY.
I have 15 days of PTO(paid time off)
I just got a email from my boss telling me he docked me 3 days pay, because I was over my 15 day limit of PTO.
Is it legal for him to do this?
It was my assumption that as salary employees you got paid for time worked no mater what.

Also I get paid salary the 15 if it falls on a Saturday I get paid the Friday before on a Sunday the Monday after. This past 15 I did not get paid... it took a full week for my direct deposit to come in, and it was only a partial payment a there was a screw up with our Payroll Co. IS this legal?

Need a little more info - were you actually docked which would be you worked 3 days and were not paid for them ever?

OR - did you get paid for 15 days of time off, you only were entitled to 12 and so the 3 days you worked were sort of paid in advance as part of your PTO?

If you owe your employer for 3 days it makes sense that they paid you as part of your PTO, realized it, you owe them 3 days. If you worked 3 days and not getting paid some sort of punishment for taking too much PTO, then it isn't legal.

If you owe them money (for example, the 3 days you didn't earn but were paid for) it is at the employer's discretion how to collect from you. May not be fair but that's how it works.

Yes, a mistake is legal. A deliberate attempt to not pay you is not legal.

Keep in mind that the truth of the matter is that NYS is an employment at will state - if you do anything the employer doesn't like (and you are not Union) you can be let go for absolutely no reason. If he doesn't like the color of your shoes, poof! You're gone. So I would think that over before complaining - how many days late were you paid when payroll made the mistake?

Quote:

Originally Posted by helpnow

Do you get paid overtime?

If yes then most likely yes you are salary but they break it down by the hour and would charge you for those 3 days off.

If no then you may need to have a chat with HR

Salaried employees do not get overtime - that's the difference between salaried and hourly - unless there is a specific agreement. Even then it's a conflict in language/terms.

Fair Labor Standards Act in 2004 changed the salary/overtime/hourly laws and the Courts have been extremely busy with this exact question. Employees were reclassified to "salaried" in order to avoid paying them overtime.

Actually, as I am reading the situation, the OP has 15 PTO days. The OP used said days, and then took another 3 days off. It appears that the OP is of the opinion that, since he is salaried, and not being paid per hour, that the company should still pay him for those 3 days, even though he wasn't at work. As far as I know, the company does not have to pay you for those days if you do not come in, although most of the companies I have worked for have been very understanding about "comp time", and would just not mention it to payroll if they felt that you had worked enough additional hours that the company was coming out essentially even. But honestly, I haven't ever pushed the issue, so I don't know for sure whether they can dock your pay or not.

Well in all my years of being on salary, you get paid your salary regardless. If and when they start docking pay, they open thierself up to having to pay overtime for all the work over. *** Ship and Shore had this issue, cost them a small fortune some years ago.

But I would say if you want to push it, go see a labor attorney, I wlll say once you decide to sue the company, start looking for another job, your days there will be numbered.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

Well in all my years of being on salary, you get paid your salary regardless. If and when they start docking pay, they open thierself up to having to pay overtime for all the work over.

While I understand the theory behind this, I am pondering the following:if the law really says that salaried gets paid regardless of being at work, why do salaried employees need PTO in the first place? For example, I have 15 days of vacation at my current employer. If there's not a law that says that the company doesn't have to pay you for days that you aren't at work, I wouldn't need vacation days... I could just not show up that many days. So now I am curious.

So in essence you took 18 days PTO. What part of you only had 15 days of PTO and you took an additional 3 days off that you think you are entitled to? Last time I looked, a person only gets paid for doing their job, not staying at home. I believe the state paid you accordingly as you had already used up your allotted 15 days PTO previously. Why do you think you are entitled to the additional 3 days? The state is no different than a private employer in figuring out how to pay an employee. As it is you seem to have generous time off and you want more.