My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: Virginia.
I work as a teacher at a private school. I was hired as salaried employee and make a certain amount every pay period. However, on federal holidays or other days when our school is closed, my employer docks my pay for however many days I miss. Back in February when Virginia had a lot of snow, our school was closed for an entire week and we (all salaried employees) were not paid. Although I perform the work of a professional teacher and I am paid more than $455 a week, I did not sign a contract. Also, we get no sick leave, no vacation time, no health insurance....pretty much no benefits at all. I know that not providing benefits is not illegal, I thought I would just throw that in there so you could get the whole picture.
According to 29 CFR 541.602, "an exempt employee must receive the full salary for any week in which the employee performs any work without regard to the number of days or hours worked...An employee is not paid on a salary basis if deductions from the employee’s predetermined compensation are made for absences occasioned by the employer or by the operating requirements of the business. If the employee is ready, willing and able to work, deductions may not be made for time when work is not available."
So I feel like I am both an exempt employee and a non exempt employee at the same time....I'm not paid for hours worked over 40, but if there is a federal holiday and we are closed, I am not paid at all. As I understand it, you cannot be both. It seems like my employer is getting the best of both worlds, as they say.
The way I am interpreting the above CFR passage is, that IF I am a salaried employee (which they've told me I am), I should be paid for a whole week if one day is missed because of a federal holiday. Right? Since I am not being paid for a whole week when this happens, are they docking my pay without asking? (When I am not paid for a day's work because of a federal holiday, there is no note on my pay stub indicating this.) Also, according the passage above, if I am salaried, shouldn't I have gotten paid during the week we missed because of snow?
Is there anything illegal going on here? Violations? Can I call for someone to come in and investigate? Should I call someone?

