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Can My Employer Make Me Go on Salary

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  • 10-04-2013, 08:52 PM
    innateone
    Can My Employer Make Me Go on Salary
    My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: Delaware

    Hello! I work in the medical field as an office manager. I oversee two practices with a total of 6 employees. I am not the "big" decision maker; if someone came in and asked for the "boss", then that person would be directed to the doctor. I am the liaison between the staff and the doctor and I supervise the employees and the day to day operations of the office. In addition, due to my knowledge and experience in my field, I have been given a few more responsibilities and was told that they would only be temporary until someone was hired to take them over and that was told to me 2 years ago. That being said, I am the acting physical therapist, the financial officer, I initiate doctor's notes, and I do the intake and history with new patients (PT should be a separate job and the notes and intake were supposed to be taken over by the doctor). I have been spread thin. We recently changed our clinic hours, which makes me work a minimum of 42 hours per week. I work on average 45 hours per week; sometimes a lot more if I am doing outside marketing events or taking work home with me. My employer just came to me and told me that he was changing me from hourly to salary and basing that on my hourly wage x 40 hrs/week x 50 weeks. Changing me to salary just gave me a $5,000+ a year pay cut.

    My questions are:

    1. Can he use that formula to base my salary if our clinic's office hours are open to see patients for 42 hrs/week?
    2. Because I am performing the job duties of what should be multiple employees, am I entitled to overtime or be paid more than one salary?

    Thank you for taking the time to help.
  • 10-04-2013, 09:09 PM
    Disagreeable
    Re: Employer Change Me from Hourly to Salary/I Do the Jobs of 3 Employees W/No Compen
    You can attempt to dispute your exempt classification if you feel it is incorrect. Barring that, your recourse is to negotiate more or find another job.
  • 10-05-2013, 02:02 AM
    billy the kid
    Re: Employer Change Me from Hourly to Salary/I Do the Jobs of 3 Employees W/No Compen
    Quote:

    Quoting innateone
    View Post

    My questions are:

    1. Can he use that formula to base my salary if our clinic's office hours are open to see patients for 42 hrs/week?
    2. Because I am performing the job duties of what should be multiple employees, am I entitled to overtime or be paid more than one salary?

    Thank you for taking the time to help.


    1) sure, why not?

    2) no
  • 10-05-2013, 07:50 AM
    cbg
    Re: Employer Change Me from Hourly to Salary/I Do the Jobs of 3 Employees W/No Compen
    If you are classified as exempt, and it sounds as if you very well could be, your salary is not based on how many hours you work but on the value of your job to the company. There are no circumstances whatsoever under which an exempt employee is entitled to overtime, even if you work 168 hours a week. That's what you're exempt FROM - overtime pay.

    The answers to your questions are No and No. The law will not force him to use any particular formula to determine your salary and there are, again, no circumstances whatsoever under which you are entitled to be paid twice.

    As an exempt employee, the law "entitles" you to a guaranteed salary of no less than $455 per week, paid in full every week that you do any work with six specific exceptions. The exceptions are as follows:

    1.) It is the first or last week of employment and you do not work the entire week
    2.) Some or all of the time you missed is attributable to FMLA
    3.) Your employer offers a reasonable number of paid sick days and you call in sick when you are either not yet entitled to any or have used all to which you are entitled
    4.) You take time off voluntarily for personal reasons (Yes, this does include vacation - paid vacation is not required for either exempt or non-exempt employees)
    5.) You have been suspended for the violation of a major safety violation
    6.) You have been suspended for the violation of a written company policy which applies to all employees and which relates to workplace conduct (workplace violence, sexual harassment, drugs/alcohol in the workplace etc.)

    You are not "entitled" to anything beyond that.

    The options Disagreeable provided are all available to you.
  • 10-05-2013, 12:59 PM
    DAWW
    Re: Employer Change Me from Hourly to Salary/I Do the Jobs of 3 Employees W/No Compen
    Agreed. I am going to include a pointer to the so-called White Collar exceptions. The federal FLSA law establishes the normal minimum wage and overtime rules that so-called non-exempt employees are subject to. There are something like 100 so-called Exempt exceptions to these normal rules. The most commonly used exceptions are the White Collar exceptions. In your case I would look at Administrative and Executive. Look at the exact wording of the rules (the government will).
    http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/complian...a_overview.htm

    One last point. You said you are working 3 different jobs. The government will not agree with that. From their standpoint, you are working a single job with varied duties. But that is a door that swings both ways. If you are really Exempt, then that is determined by looking at ALL your duties at the same time. If you add enough non-exempt tasks, you can eventually risk the Exempt status of any otherwise Exempt position. Job titles do not matter. Actual job duties do matter.
  • 10-05-2013, 02:56 PM
    llworking
    Re: Employer Change Me from Hourly to Salary/I Do the Jobs of 3 Employees W/No Compen
    Quote:

    Quoting innateone
    View Post
    My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: Delaware

    Hello! I work in the medical field as an office manager. I oversee two practices with a total of 6 employees. I am not the "big" decision maker; if someone came in and asked for the "boss", then that person would be directed to the doctor. I am the liaison between the staff and the doctor and I supervise the employees and the day to day operations of the office. In addition, due to my knowledge and experience in my field, I have been given a few more responsibilities and was told that they would only be temporary until someone was hired to take them over and that was told to me 2 years ago. That being said, I am the acting physical therapist, the financial officer, I initiate doctor's notes, and I do the intake and history with new patients (PT should be a separate job and the notes and intake were supposed to be taken over by the doctor). I have been spread thin. We recently changed our clinic hours, which makes me work a minimum of 42 hours per week. I work on average 45 hours per week; sometimes a lot more if I am doing outside marketing events or taking work home with me. My employer just came to me and told me that he was changing me from hourly to salary and basing that on my hourly wage x 40 hrs/week x 50 weeks. Changing me to salary just gave me a $5,000+ a year pay cut.

    My questions are:

    1. Can he use that formula to base my salary if our clinic's office hours are open to see patients for 42 hrs/week?
    2. Because I am performing the job duties of what should be multiple employees, am I entitled to overtime or be paid more than one salary?

    Thank you for taking the time to help.

    It sounds to me like your employee is feeling an economic "pinch" and you are suffering the fallout. However it also sounds to me like your value to your employer (whether he/she realizes it or not) is very high. Unfortunately, that is often the kind of thing that an employer doesn't realize until the employee is gone, particularly if you do your job seamlessly.

    Its probably time to look for another job.
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