Copyright © 2003-2006 Ethan A. Winning
In one landmark court case regarding the possible loss of exempt status, the judge said that an exempt employee is paid according to the value of his services and not the time it takes to perform the job. That and the fact that exempt employees are paid on a salary basis which does not change from pay period to pay period has led many to believe that exempt employees are free to come and go from work as they please, that they are not accountable for their time, that companies cannot require time sheets, and that exempt employees are not subject to a company's attendance policies. All of these assumptions are false.
Why and Whom to Track? Historically, being an exempt employees carries with it some privileges if the company cares to mete out these perks. Exempt employees could leave work and get a haircut, spend 70 minutes at lunch, come in 15 minutes late, and so on, all of which would be considered infractions of policy if done by nonexempt employees. In other words, rank has its privileges. However, there are several caveats to what has just been said. First, to reiterate, the company had to allow such behaviors, and I have worked with and for many companies where, although an exempt employee could not be docked for coming in late in the morning or from lunch, most would managers would...
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