Am I required to pay or dock pay of an employee if he showed up to work somedays and not other days?
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Am I required to pay or dock pay of an employee if he showed up to work somedays and not other days?
He worked 3 days; 1 of those days he showed up late and on another day wanted me to meet him to pick him up. Another day didn’t come at all. Then he called 2 days later to resign.
Asked on October 19, 2011 under Employment Labor Law, Texas
Answers:
B.H.F., Member, Texas State Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
Generally speaking, you are not required to pay someone for days they did not work.... this works best in hourly employees that are eligible for overtime. So, if you have an hourly, non-exempt employee that only worked 3 days, you are only required to pay him for the actual time he worked. The word of caution regarding this answer is that the answer may not be the same for employees that are salaried and exempt-- like store managers. Salaried means that someone gets paid the same regardless of whether they work 30 hours or 60 hours-- with no overtime provisions. If you start docking the pay of salaried, exempt employees, then your practice could be construed and interpreted to mean that you actually consider the employee and hourly employee. If the employee is deemed to be an hourly employee, then the employee would not only be entitled for overtime that week, but could also make a back dated claim for all of the other days that they worked overtime and were not properly paid. This has been a very expensive lesson for some companies. The key is consistency. Whether they are hourly or salary, use consistent practices for compensation so you don't accidentally end up with an expensive wage claim.
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