Questions On "Exempt Position"

[johnw2011]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MS
I have been employed for the company for a year. The company provides the services for the Federal Government. My offer latter stated as
&#8220; <company> Corporation is pleased to extend to you an offer of employment as <position> for the <contract name> Contract at an hourly rate of $<rate> . This position is classified as an exempt position for purposes of federal wage-hour law, with benefits as described in the enclosed <company> Benefits Summary.
..
&#8220;

It is a 40 hours/week full time job, and the vacations and the holidays are paid , I can contribute and the company matches the 401k. I have the health insurance provided by the company and etc.

About a month ago, due to the contract issue I was ordered stopping the work and asked to use the vacation hours, and use the unpaid on leave after the vacation hours used up as the contract issue is being worked out. Now the contract issue is still being worked and I have been on unpaid leave for 2 plus weeks. I am still an employee of the company and company pays the health insurance.

Questions, since I am a full time employee, can the company pay nothing to a full time employee? Or because I am hired as &#8220;an exempt position&#8221;, can the company pay nothing to the employees under certain circumstances? I fail to find any supportive information in the company&#8217;s Benefits Summary.

Please help me on this.

 

[justalayman]

Questions, since I am a full time employee, can the company pay nothing to a full time employee?

yes. If you don't work, at least part of a week, they have no obligation to pay you.

 

[ecmst12]

Even for an exempt employee, they do not need to pay you if you do no work for the entire work week.

However, you are absolutely free to file for unemployment even though you are technically employed, they are not paying you.

 

[johnw2011]

Even for an exempt employee, they do not need to pay you if you do no work for the entire work week.

However, you are absolutely free to file for unemployment even though you are technically employed, they are not paying you.

Will I have to be terminated by the employer to entitle the unemployment benefits?

 

[cbg]

No. You do not have to be terminated - you only have to be not working for reasons attributable to the employer.

FYI, absolutely nothing you have posted determines whether you are exempt or not. As long as you earn more than $455 a week, whether you are exempt or non-exempt is determined by your job duties - not your title, not whether you are full or part time, not by what benefits you receive. Your job duties ONLY.

However, the answer to the question you have asked is the same regardless of whether you are exempt or non-exempt - I'm only mentioning it since you don't seem to be clear on what "exempt" for FLSA purposes really means.

 

[ecmst12]

Not at all, you are not working and not getting paid, you can file. You are basically laid off awaiting recall, and you can collect for that.

 

[johnw2011]

Am I required to notify the employer for applying the unemployment benefits?

 

[cbg]

YOU are not required to notify the employer, no. But the employer will be notified - the UI office will take care of that.

 

[commentator]

Yes, before too much time passes, you need to file a claim for unemployment benefits for that week you were off work without pay or vacation pay. The unemployment system will check with the employer to verify that you were off through no fault of your own for that week. But they shouldn't penalize or punish you for filing the claim, they should know you are able to file for a week like this. And they will be required to anwer the unemployment system's questions, they can't stop you from getting the benefits by failing to respond in other words.

Any week that you are out of work through no fault of your own, even if it is a vacation week, you are eligible for one week of "partial unemployment." This means you are not separated from your employer, you are temporarily out of work through no fault of your own. Some employers actually file the form for the employee.

When you're being paid hourly, and you go a week with no pay for no work, that's a week you can and should draw unemployment benefits. File for it quickly.

 

[ajkroy]

The OP claims she was "ordered" to stop work (due to contract issues), but didn't say by whom. When I read it, it read like she is on strike.

 

[justalayman]

The OP claims she was "ordered" to stop work (due to contract issues), but didn't say by whom. When I read it, it read like she is on strike.

based on this:

I have been employed for the company for a year. The company provides the services for the Federal Government. My offer latter stated as
“ <company> Corporation is pleased to extend to you an offer of employment as <position> for the <contract name> Contract at an hourly rate of $<rate> .

it sounds more like the employer is working on a contract with the government to continue services rather than the OP being a union member dealing with a CBA. Since the employer appears to be in contract negotiations with the fed government, the OP simply has no job to report to for the time being.

 

[commentator]

Totally different things. That her company is renegotiation a contract and therefore is not working for a few weeks will mean she's out of work through no fault of her own,and should get unemployment benefits for the time. A strike means you're not eligible, as you are considered out of work by your own decision. But I haven't heard, don't think there have been any strikes of federal contractors lately, I don't believe this is that kind of situation, as this would have been national news, and right now federal and state workers and contractorsand being rather quiet and low key.

 

[johnw2011]

Will I have to be terminated by the employer to entitle the unemployment benefits?

Thanks for having this qurey answered, I should entitle to the unemployement benefits without being terminated.

could anyone provide any relevant documents' links, for any states and are not neccessary for the state of Mississippi? My employer tells me that I would need to be terminated to apply the benefits.

 

[cbg]

Your employer is wrong. He may believe that to be the case, or he may just want to discourage you from filing, I don't know. But he is wrong nonetheless.

It took ten seconds on Google to find this.

http://mdes.ms.gov/Home/FAQ/unemploymentServices.html#1_3

 

[ecmst12]

You don't need permission from your employer to file. Just file, today!