Mass-Peculiarities: An Employers Guide to Wage & Hour Law in the Bay State 2022 Edition

© 2022 Seyfarth Shaw LLP Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2022 ed. | 85 employee’s full salary in the initial and final weeks of employment; the employer may pay a proportionate part of the full salary for the time actually worked. 455 a. Deductions from Salary If an employer makes improper deductions from an employee’s predetermined salary, the employee is not considered to have been paid on a salary basis and is therefore no longer exempt. 456 Moreover, where an employer has an “actual practice” of making improper deductions from employees’ pay, the exemption may be lost as to all employees in the job classification to which the practice applies and who work for the manager responsible for the improper deductions. 457 For example, if a manager at a particular company facility routinely docks the pay of engineers who otherwise meet the requirements of an exemption for partial-day absences, the exemption for all engineers at that facility whose pay could have been improperly docked would be lost for the time period during which the improper deductions were made. Engineers at other facilities or those who worked for other managers would not be affected and thus would remain exempt. 458 Deductions may not be made from an exempt employee’s pay for any absence occasioned by the employer or by the operating requirements of the business. 459 This means that if the employee is ready, willing, and able to work, he or she must be paid. For example, if an exempt employee is told not to come in to work on a particular day because there is no work for the employee to do or because the employer’s facility is closed due to inclement weather, the employee must nonetheless be paid for that day. 460 Similarly, an employer may not make deductions for absences occasioned by jury duty, for attendance in a litigation proceeding as a witness, or for temporary military leave. 461 An employer may, however, offset any amount received by an employee as jury fees, witness fees, or military pay for a particular week against the salary due for that week without losing the exemption. 462 Deductions from salary of less than a week are only permitted in narrow circumstances specifically set forth in the regulations as described below. (1) Deductions for Disciplinary Reasons Employers may take deductions from salary for unpaid, full-day disciplinary suspensions imposed for violations of workplace conduct rules, such as sexual harassment policies or policies 455 29 C.F.R. § 541.602(b)(6). 456 29 C.F.R. § 541.603(a). 457 Id. 458 29 C.F.R. § 541.603(b). 459 29 C.F.R. § 541.602(a). 460 Id. 461 29 C.F.R. § 541.602(b)(3). 462 Id.