I am having an issue with determining how the law states whether a company is open for business or not. We are a small private company in Florida (around 65 employees) and like most companies we get Thanksgiving Day off as a paid holiday. However the big boss does not want to pay employees for the day following if they take it off, which is perfectly fine and legal. I understand that.

The big controversy comes in when we get technical on whether we are open for business on that day or not.

Basically we are a Greenhouse and all of our production employees (i.e. ee's that work with the plants) are exempt from getting paid the 1.5 hourly rate for working hours over 40 in any given week. (*I know what your thinking, but we are covered under the agricultural exemption under FLSA. I don't agree with it but it's legal.*) They normally make an arrangement where they work an extra 8 hours the week prior to take that day off. So, there is usually not anyone working in the Greenhouse on that day and the shipping department does not usually ship on that day either. This works out fine for management and the employees.

Then we have our office employees, which are non-exempt hourly employees and exempt salaried employees.  The option of working an extra 8 hours the week prior is not an option for us. We are told that if we want the day off then we have to take it off unpaid or against our vacation leave. Hypothetically this would not be a problem except that there is never anyone here on that day. No receptionist to answer the phone, no manager to manage, no sales department to sell.

The controversy mainly involves the exempt salaried personnel.

So my question is this: Can we technically call ourselves open for business if there is no one here to conduct business? Management would like to think so. My position is that if no one is here then we can't call ourselves open for business.

Thanks in advance for all of your input.

6345929:

I am having an issue with determining how the law states whether a company is open for business or not. We are a small private company in Florida (around 65 employees) and like most companies we get Thanksgiving Day off as a paid holiday. However the big boss does not want to pay employees for the day following if they take it off, which is perfectly fine and legal. I understand that.

The big controversy comes in when we get technical on whether we are open for business on that day or not.

Basically we are a Greenhouse and all of our production employees (i.e. ee's that work with the plants) are exempt from getting paid the 1.5 hourly rate for working hours over 40 in any given week. (*I know what your thinking, but we are covered under the agricultural exemption under FLSA. I don't agree with it but it's legal.*) They normally make an arrangement where they work an extra 8 hours the week prior to take that day off. So, there is usually not anyone working in the Greenhouse on that day and the shipping department does not usually ship on that day either. This works out fine for management and the employees.

Then we have our office employees, which are non-exempt hourly employees and exempt salaried employees.  The option of working an extra 8 hours the week prior is not an option for us. We are told that if we want the day off then we have to take it off unpaid or against our vacation leave. Hypothetically this would not be a problem except that there is never anyone here on that day. No receptionist to answer the phone, no manager to manage, no sales department to sell.

The controversy mainly involves the exempt salaried personnel.

So my question is this: Can we technically call ourselves open for business if there is no one here to conduct business? Management would like to think so. My position is that if no one is here then we can't call ourselves open for business.

Thanks in advance for all of your input.

 

Whether you are "open for business" in some theoretical manner or not is technically irrelevent under FLSA.  If you are normally open on Fridays, then every EXEMPT, SALARIED employee must be paid for that one Friday after turkey time.  Even if you didn't have holiday pay, you would have to pay exempt, salaried employees on Thanksgiving day, too.  The only general exception to this scenario would be if the company were to be closed for the entire week.

I guess the real question is then: Can we deduct the time from the exempt employees' vacation balances?  Does management have the option of saying "either you work or you take vacation time"?

This is the part we are struggling with. Judging from your response (and from my own interpretation of the law) I would say no, but given that I am in the exempt category, I could have a biased perspective. And I just want to feel secure in my appeal to management.

6345929:

I guess the real question is then: Can we deduct the time from the exempt employees' vacation balances?  Does management have the option of saying "either you work or you take vacation time"?

This is the part we are struggling with. Judging from your response (and from my own interpretation of the law) I would say no, but given that I am in the exempt category, I could have a biased perspective. And I just want to feel secure in my appeal to management.

 

The Company can schedule Friday and force people who don't show to take pay from their PTO/vacation bank.  That Friday's operations are nothing like normal is irrelevent.  If you want to bring them in and ask them to sit quietly and contemplate how they could do their job better for 8 hours, you could do that.

 

The Company controls the schedule.  If you tell someone they need to be at work, particularly if it's a normally scheduled day in their work week, then they need to be there if they want to be paid for work instead of from their time off bank.

 

Your company could be in some sense "closed" and still require its employees or a subseet of its employees to work.

 

The last thing to think about is whether or not you want to be that kind of Company.  Is there a good business reason for it?  Will there be productive work that the company needs done?  If not, it will create un-necessary irritation and ill-will, especially if it's a departure from past practice..

TXHRGuy is right, all legal issues aside, one of the things you need to think about is employee morale.  What is the reason for wanting to do this?  Is the owner trying to save money?  What have you done in past years?