Workforce Tip of the Week, sponsored by Spectrum Employee Services: A salaried exempt employee left work early .. can I reduce his/her pay?

If an exempt employee does any work, they must be paid for the full day—there is no minimum. For example, if an employee worked the first 20 minutes of their usual 8-hour day, then had to go home to deal with a flooding basement, they would be entitled to their full pay for that day.

You may, however, have the option of using an employee’s paid time off to fill in the gap. If the employee has hours available in their PTO or vacation bank, you could use time from that bank to cover their absence (assuming this is your standard policy and practice).

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