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Salaried employee forced to take unpaid time off

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JDeis

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Mexico

Can an employer force salaried employees to take unpaid days off, or make the use vacation days in order to be paid for those days?
 


Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Mexico

Can an employer force salaried employees to take unpaid days off, or make the use vacation days in order to be paid for those days?
Some additional details about what is occurring would be helpful. Telling us you get paid by salary doesn’t tell us much as that is just a method of pay. However, assuming that you are not an exempt employee, that you are not employed by a government agency, that you do not belong to a union that has a collective bargaining agreement with your employer, and that you do not have an employment contract for a definite period of time (e.g. one year or whatever) the answer is that an employer is not obligated to schedule an employee to work and an employer is only required to pay a non-exempt employee for the actual time worked. But if any of my assumptions are wrong the answer could change.
 

JDeis

Junior Member
Salaried employee

This is for an exempt employee at a private company. Multiple times the company has mandated a day off during the week without pay. Employees have the option to use vacation time if they want paid for the day. It has never been more than two days in a week.
 

FlyingRon

Senior Member
Doesn't sound legitimate. Federal law requires the salary to be paid unless the employee performs NO work in a given work week. Depending on state law and other circumstances, the employer can force an employee to use leave, but not paying would seem right out.
 

Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
This is for an exempt employee at a private company. Multiple times the company has mandated a day off during the week without pay. Employees have the option to use vacation time if they want paid for the day. It has never been more than two days in a week.
The employer may be violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The details matter, so check out the explanation of pay for exempt employees by the U.S. Department of Labor here:

https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/fs17g_salary.htm
 

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