For those of you buried in Mother Nature's rath

The Society for Human Resource Management posted this helpful resource this morning:

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Inclement Weather Pay Practices
What to do when Mother Nature decides to interfere with your well-laid operating plans? Regarding pay practices, the Department of Labor opinion letters provide guidance for employers to follow in paying exempt employees during periods of inclement weather.

Closings - Employers who elect to close during such periods must pay the weekly salary for an exempt employee during the closure.  Thus, regardless of whether an employee was at work for the entire week, the employee should receive their non-fluctuating salary for the week.  An employer may require an exempt employee to use accrued leave for days of absence during such a closure but the employer continues to be obligated to pay the full salary of the exempt employee, regardless of whether the employee has a leave balance.  Thus, in the latter case, an employer may be required to advance leave.

Continuing operations - Employers who remain open during such periods must pay an exempt employee for any partial or whole day the employee reports to work during such periods; however, for days where an exempt employee elects not to report to work, the employer is free to deduct accrued leave for such absences from the employee’s leave bank.  If the exempt employee is not yet eligible for accrued leave or has exhausted such leave, an employer may make reductions from pay for whole day absences.

An employer may not make partial-day deductions from exempt employee pay for less than a full day absence regardless of whether the employee has any accrued leave.

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