It’s time again for our HR Basecamp roundup. If you’re new here, we take the most popular submitted questions from our HR Basecamp Facebook group every other week and go more in-depth on the answer. Join the over 10,000 other office managers and business owners here to submit your questions and participate in the discussion!
Podcasts and Resources in this Roundup:
I found out my office manager has frequently been calling and texting employees on nights and weekends, either asking them questions about patients or asking them to log in from home to take care of some tasks. I only found out because an employee complained to me about not receiving overtime. When I asked the office manager about it, she said we don’t have to worry about that since our entire staff is salaried. Is this true?
The legal side of things: There’s a lot to consider here, but the quick answer is NO. All your employees can be paid a salary, but that doesn’t mean they all don’t get paid overtime.
Per the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), all employees must be compensated for all work performed and must be paid overtime if they work over 40 hours per week (and over 8 hours a day in some states).
The only employees this does not apply to are those classified as exempt. We’ve talked a lot about exempt vs. non-exempt classification in the past and even have a handy guide that covers it in detail. Since your manager referenced being in the clear due to employees being on salary, it sounds like she does not have a complete understanding of all the rules.
Being paid a salary does not automatically make someone exempt from the overtime requirements. They have to meet additional requirements based on their job duties. In a healthcare practice, typically the only employees who meet those requirements are doctors and high level managers. The rest of the team are almost always non-exempt. This means that even if you are paying your receptionist, medical assistant, hygienist, or technician a salary, they still are owed overtime when it’s worked.
In this scenario, we would need more information to know if overtime pay is owed to anyone. Working after hours doesn’t automatically give someone overtime. It’s only overtime if their total hours go over 40 in a workweek (or over 8 in a day in some states like Alaska and California).
All of the time your office manager is asking them to spend on work duties does count as time they need to be paid. So your first step is to check the employee time cards. If they have not been clocking their time spent working on nights or weekends, you need to go back and try to reconstruct those records to ensure all time has been tracked and paid for properly.
Depending on where you’re located and what kind of expectation there is for employees to respond, there may be a compliance issue with expecting employees to essentially be “on-call.” You can learn more about this in this episode of What the Hell Just Happened?!
If your employees are eligible for overtime pay and haven’t received it, you’re at a huge risk for a wage claim. You should review your employees’ status and pay records as soon as possible to make sure they are classified correctly and provide any overtime back pay if needed.
Now for the human approach: Putting aside any legal concerns, the fact that you were not aware of how much your office manager was contacting your team after hours is a red flag.
Sometimes things will come up that may require management to communicate with employees after hours or ask them to complete a task at home, and that’s okay. But HR best practice is to schedule work related tasks while employees are in the office so they can clock in and out like normal. Not respecting your employees’ personal time is an easy way to lose them.
If your office manager is having trouble managing the rest of your staff and their assigned tasks to the point that they are constantly asking employees to work after hours, there’s likely a time problem on their end that needs to be addressed. Also the manager not telling you that things aren’t getting done during business hours is concerning. If the manager needs help so frequently, they should be talking to you about it to come up with a solution.
Since there’s a good chance this work involves a wage violation, a conversation with your office manager is in order to clarify employee expectations and wage and hour rules. In general, anyone who is in charge of scheduling or is in a position that could potentially assign work after hours should be trained on wage and hour rules and the risks that come with breaking those rules.
Extra credit reading: Clocked Out, Still Connected: What You Need to Know About Group Texting Outside of Work Hours
Exempt Employees Must Now Be Paid a Higher Minimum Salary
Podcasts and Resources in this Roundup:
I found out my office manager has frequently been calling and texting employees on nights and weekends, either asking them questions about patients or asking them to log in from home to take care of some tasks. I only found out because an employee complained to me about not receiving overtime. When I asked the office manager about it, she said we don’t have to worry about that since our entire staff is salaried. Is this true?
The legal side of things: There’s a lot to consider here, but the quick answer is NO. All your employees can be paid a salary, but that doesn’t mean they all don’t get paid overtime.
Per the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), all employees must be compensated for all work performed and must be paid overtime if they work over 40 hours per week (and over 8 hours a day in some states).
The only employees this does not apply to are those classified as exempt. We’ve talked a lot about exempt vs. non-exempt classification in the past and even have a handy guide that covers it in detail. Since your manager referenced being in the clear due to employees being on salary, it sounds like she does not have a complete understanding of all the rules.
Being paid a salary does not automatically make someone exempt from the overtime requirements. They have to meet additional requirements based on their job duties. In a healthcare practice, typically the only employees who meet those requirements are doctors and high level managers. The rest of the team are almost always non-exempt. This means that even if you are paying your receptionist, medical assistant, hygienist, or technician a salary, they still are owed overtime when it’s worked.
In this scenario, we would need more information to know if overtime pay is owed to anyone. Working after hours doesn’t automatically give someone overtime. It’s only overtime if their total hours go over 40 in a workweek (or over 8 in a day in some states like Alaska and California).
All of the time your office manager is asking them to spend on work duties does count as time they need to be paid. So your first step is to check the employee time cards. If they have not been clocking their time spent working on nights or weekends, you need to go back and try to reconstruct those records to ensure all time has been tracked and paid for properly.
Depending on where you’re located and what kind of expectation there is for employees to respond, there may be a compliance issue with expecting employees to essentially be “on-call.” You can learn more about this in this episode of What the Hell Just Happened?!
If your employees are eligible for overtime pay and haven’t received it, you’re at a huge risk for a wage claim. You should review your employees’ status and pay records as soon as possible to make sure they are classified correctly and provide any overtime back pay if needed.
Now for the human approach: Putting aside any legal concerns, the fact that you were not aware of how much your office manager was contacting your team after hours is a red flag.
Sometimes things will come up that may require management to communicate with employees after hours or ask them to complete a task at home, and that’s okay. But HR best practice is to schedule work related tasks while employees are in the office so they can clock in and out like normal. Not respecting your employees’ personal time is an easy way to lose them.
If your office manager is having trouble managing the rest of your staff and their assigned tasks to the point that they are constantly asking employees to work after hours, there’s likely a time problem on their end that needs to be addressed. Also the manager not telling you that things aren’t getting done during business hours is concerning. If the manager needs help so frequently, they should be talking to you about it to come up with a solution.
Since there’s a good chance this work involves a wage violation, a conversation with your office manager is in order to clarify employee expectations and wage and hour rules. In general, anyone who is in charge of scheduling or is in a position that could potentially assign work after hours should be trained on wage and hour rules and the risks that come with breaking those rules.
Extra credit reading: Clocked Out, Still Connected: What You Need to Know About Group Texting Outside of Work Hours
Exempt Employees Must Now Be Paid a Higher Minimum Salary
Help! We had a system malfunction and multiple employees were overpaid. Can I automatically deduct the extra amount from their next paycheck?
The legal side of things: Wouldn’t it be nice if recouping payment was easy as one simple paycheck deduction? Sometimes it is, but it can get tricky depending on your state’s laws.
Many states have wage deduction laws, some stricter than others. Most if not all of these laws require employers to get written authorization for the deduction from the employee before the deduction is made. Some states have additional restrictions that limit the amount that can be deducted from each paycheck. This means the process can sometimes get drawn out depending on the employee’s cooperation and how much you’re able to deduct at a time.
Even if your state doesn’t have a law that requires written authorization, it’s always a good idea to get it. Documentation is your greatest asset should an employee claim the deduction was made incorrectly.
We strongly recommend speaking to an HR expert before making any payroll deductions. As we mentioned, some states have extremely strict laws and it’s easy to make a costly mistake if you don’t know what to look out for.
Now for the human approach: In a perfect world, you point out an overpayment, the employee gives authorization for a deduction, and that’s that. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Believe it or not, it’s not uncommon for employees to claim that no overpayment was made or worse, acknowledge that it was made but say they won’t authorize a deduction to pay it back.
What do you do if you find yourself in this situation? Start by having a private, sit down conversation with the employee to talk about the overpayment. If they’re claiming it didn’t happen, this is a good time to break down the numbers and explain how and why they were overpaid.
It’s possible they’re worried about the impact several smaller paychecks may have, in which case you may be able to come to an agreement on the amount deduction from each check to make it easier on them.
There’s still the chance that they refuse to agree to the deduction. If this happens, you can invoice them for the money they owe. You’ll also want to reach out to your payroll provider and ask if they will assume responsibility for the lost money since this was a system error.
The legal side of things: Wouldn’t it be nice if recouping payment was easy as one simple paycheck deduction? Sometimes it is, but it can get tricky depending on your state’s laws.
Many states have wage deduction laws, some stricter than others. Most if not all of these laws require employers to get written authorization for the deduction from the employee before the deduction is made. Some states have additional restrictions that limit the amount that can be deducted from each paycheck. This means the process can sometimes get drawn out depending on the employee’s cooperation and how much you’re able to deduct at a time.
Even if your state doesn’t have a law that requires written authorization, it’s always a good idea to get it. Documentation is your greatest asset should an employee claim the deduction was made incorrectly.
We strongly recommend speaking to an HR expert before making any payroll deductions. As we mentioned, some states have extremely strict laws and it’s easy to make a costly mistake if you don’t know what to look out for.
Now for the human approach: In a perfect world, you point out an overpayment, the employee gives authorization for a deduction, and that’s that. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Believe it or not, it’s not uncommon for employees to claim that no overpayment was made or worse, acknowledge that it was made but say they won’t authorize a deduction to pay it back.
What do you do if you find yourself in this situation? Start by having a private, sit down conversation with the employee to talk about the overpayment. If they’re claiming it didn’t happen, this is a good time to break down the numbers and explain how and why they were overpaid.
It’s possible they’re worried about the impact several smaller paychecks may have, in which case you may be able to come to an agreement on the amount deduction from each check to make it easier on them.
There’s still the chance that they refuse to agree to the deduction. If this happens, you can invoice them for the money they owe. You’ll also want to reach out to your payroll provider and ask if they will assume responsibility for the lost money since this was a system error.
My employee called out the night before their shift and did not respond to any of our messages when we tried to reach out in the morning. Can I terminate them due to the lack of communication? Or, since they did not respond, is this considered job abandonment?
The legal side of things: Our first question is where are you located? Many cities and states have strict rules around providing paid sick time and legal protections for using that time. Rules also commonly restrict employers from requiring additional follow up from the employee once they’ve communicated that they need to use a sick day. If the employee had sick time available, taking any adverse action against them would be incredibly risky. There’s a good chance they would have a case for a retaliation claim.
Regardless of whether sick leave laws apply, this does not sound like a job abandonment scenario. Typically the term “job abandonment” is used when an employee stops showing up for work without any communication at all. In this case, they did notify you that they would be absent from their next shift. We understand the frustration at their lack of communication the following day, but they did communicate their intent not to come in and therefore weren’t a no-call no-show.
Now for the human approach: We typically would not recommend terminating an employee for not responding to you when they are not working. A good HR rule of thumb is to not ask things of your employees when they are out of the office. But ultimately this comes down to the reason you needed to speak with them that day.
It’s reasonable to try to get in touch for certain reasons. For example, if they have information you need for that workday, or if you are trying to confirm whether they’ll be in for their subsequent shift. It’s may also be ok to follow up if their call-out did not fully comply with your written policy about communicating absences. For example, if you require a phone call to the doctor but they instead texted the office manager.
Bear in mind that they did give notice the night before that they would be out, and if they are truly sick they may be sleeping or otherwise away from their phone. From their perspective, they have communicated that they are not working that day so they aren’t thinking about watching for workplace messages.
If there was an issue with the circumstances of their call out, you can address that when they are back in the office. Having an in-person conversation is also better than trying to do so on the phone, especially since you then get into territory of possibly needing to clock that conversation as work time.
Any last minute call out can be stressful for the team. We highly recommend not making an in-the-moment decision to terminate or take any other action in response to it. Keep your focus on what needs to be done for the business that day and talk through the whole scenario with an HR expert before making any drastic decisions.
The legal side of things: Our first question is where are you located? Many cities and states have strict rules around providing paid sick time and legal protections for using that time. Rules also commonly restrict employers from requiring additional follow up from the employee once they’ve communicated that they need to use a sick day. If the employee had sick time available, taking any adverse action against them would be incredibly risky. There’s a good chance they would have a case for a retaliation claim.
Regardless of whether sick leave laws apply, this does not sound like a job abandonment scenario. Typically the term “job abandonment” is used when an employee stops showing up for work without any communication at all. In this case, they did notify you that they would be absent from their next shift. We understand the frustration at their lack of communication the following day, but they did communicate their intent not to come in and therefore weren’t a no-call no-show.
Now for the human approach: We typically would not recommend terminating an employee for not responding to you when they are not working. A good HR rule of thumb is to not ask things of your employees when they are out of the office. But ultimately this comes down to the reason you needed to speak with them that day.
It’s reasonable to try to get in touch for certain reasons. For example, if they have information you need for that workday, or if you are trying to confirm whether they’ll be in for their subsequent shift. It’s may also be ok to follow up if their call-out did not fully comply with your written policy about communicating absences. For example, if you require a phone call to the doctor but they instead texted the office manager.
Bear in mind that they did give notice the night before that they would be out, and if they are truly sick they may be sleeping or otherwise away from their phone. From their perspective, they have communicated that they are not working that day so they aren’t thinking about watching for workplace messages.
If there was an issue with the circumstances of their call out, you can address that when they are back in the office. Having an in-person conversation is also better than trying to do so on the phone, especially since you then get into territory of possibly needing to clock that conversation as work time.
Any last minute call out can be stressful for the team. We highly recommend not making an in-the-moment decision to terminate or take any other action in response to it. Keep your focus on what needs to be done for the business that day and talk through the whole scenario with an HR expert before making any drastic decisions.
