Early finishes when salaried

WillShawcross

Hi,

my employer has recently mandated that all salaried employees should begin to clock in and out. 

With this in mind, would be employer be within their rights to dock an hourly rate, for early finishes? They haven’t amended my contract, and I haven’t signed anything to agree to changes…

I was always under the impression that you get paid a set 25k/year, in 12 instalments. And any early finishes or overtime are what they are, no pay amendments… but this has got me thinking and curious??

kind regards 

strawb_shortcake

WillShawcross said:

Hi,

my employer has recently mandated that all salaried employees should begin to clock in and out. 

With this in mind, would be employer be within their rights to dock an hourly rate, for early finishes? They haven’t amended my contract, and I haven’t signed anything to agree to changes…

I was always under the impression that you get paid a set 25k/year, in 12 instalments. And any early finishes or overtime are what they are, no pay amendments… but this has got me thinking and curious??

kind regards 

Presumably you have contracted hours? The clocking in and out is to verify employees work their contracted hours. I'd imagine prior to docking wages they'd investigate why someone isn't meeting their contracted hours. 
Similarly, if they find that individuals are regularly working above their contracted hours then this gives them the data to support changes to the business with either increasing staff numbers or salaries. 
I have flexi at work, so I can start and finish when I like within reason, but I can take those hours off at a later date - my next holiday four out if 10 days are flexi leave

Marcon

WillShawcross said:

Hi,

my employer has recently mandated that all salaried employees should begin to clock in and out. 

With this in mind, would be employer be within their rights to dock an hourly rate, for early finishes? They haven’t amended my contract, and I haven’t signed anything to agree to changes…

I was always under the impression that you get paid a set 25k/year, in 12 instalments. And any early finishes or overtime are what they are, no pay amendments… but this has got me thinking and curious??

kind regards 

I think this is more about keeping a check on employees' working hours/arrival and finish times than any sort of veiled threat to start docking salary. Doubtless if someone is found to be constantly late and/or skiving off early, words might be had...

housebuyer143

Your contract still state working hours. If you come under that they will probably make you work it back or over that and if they are really nice they will pay you over time. 
You are required to do your contracted hours.

Eldi_Dos

If the building has to be cleared in a emergency it helps in knowing who is on the premises when doing a headcount at RVP.

LightFlare

I would want to know how the hours are being considered - is it daily or weekly.

If weekly then an early Friday finish can be achieved by ensuring you work additional hours in the week.

They may be p’d off if people are claiming overtime Mon-Thu AND partaking in a poets day on Fridays 

Andy_L

WillShawcross said:

Hi,

my employer has recently mandated that all salaried employees should begin to clock in and out. 

With this in mind, would be employer be within their rights to dock an hourly rate, for early finishes? They haven’t amended my contract, and I haven’t signed anything to agree to changes…

I was always under the impression that you get paid a set 25k/year, in 12 instalments. And any early finishes or overtime are what they are, no pay amendments… but this has got me thinking and curious??

kind regards 

Being salaried doesn't preclude paid overtime. 

Undervalued

WillShawcross said:

Hi,

my employer has recently mandated that all salaried employees should begin to clock in and out. 

With this in mind, would be employer be within their rights to dock an hourly rate, for early finishes? They haven’t amended my contract, and I haven’t signed anything to agree to changes…

I was always under the impression that you get paid a set 25k/year, in 12 instalments. And any early finishes or overtime are what they are, no pay amendments… but this has got me thinking and curious??

kind regards 

Employment contracts evolve and are not set in stone. They comprise of far more than just a sheet of paper with the word contract on it. Also, if your employer has "mandated" a change you will be deemed to have accepted it unless your positively reject the change. It doesn't need to be in writing, let alone signed to be valid.

TELLIT01

Andy_L said:

Being salaried doesn't preclude paid overtime. 

True, but many salaried jobs don't pay overtime.  If there is flexibility, formal or informal, to the effect that people can leave early to compensate from extra hours worked, then I see clocking as being less of a concern.  If the employer is removing a previous informal arrangement I would be asking for clarification.

EnPointe

TELLIT01 said:

Andy_L said:

Being salaried doesn't preclude paid overtime. 

True, but many salaried jobs don't pay overtime.  If there is flexibility, formal or informal, to the effect that people can leave early to compensate from extra hours worked, then I see clocking as being less of a concern.  If the employer is removing a previous informal arrangement I would be asking for clarification.

this can be rather nuanced  

'Salaried' can mean a whole raft of things , but historically it meant  you  didn;t have clock in and clock out.  there has also historically been  some degree of flexibility in working times for 'salaried' roles   vs the  type of draconian  managment  of  'hourly paid plebs' ... 

it may be that they suspect there is a  an unacceptable level of misuse of the flexibility and want to move towards a more  formal and documented  approach to flexible working  and making sure peopel do at least their contraxctged hours. 

Overtime wise - being salaried  doesn;t preclude  paid overtime.  in the last  role  i had  FLMs and Ops Managers  were 'salaried' in that they  were expected not to leave tasks  each day that needed to be done,  and  there  wrere rules aobut what could be claimed as TOIL  etc etc...   however for  bing product launches and  things like 'black friday' they would be offered / voluntold  extra hours  at  a specified  rate  to provide extra managmenet support  for these ' can't be failed'    events   

TELLIT01

I agree that what 'salaried' means is nuanced and comes down to what the contract says.  I worked for a company where I wasn't paid overtime, but the nature of the job often meant long hours and some weekend work.  It was commonplace for my boss to say either 'take the afternoon off' or at times 'take a day off when it's quiet'.  That was obviously greatly appreciated.  We were a subsidiary of one of the major banks and eventually my role was moved to the parent bank.  I still did exactly the same hours as before, but became overtime paid to align with others doing the same role in other parts of the organisation.  Same role, different conditions.