Human Resource Blog

Breaks and day vs hourly pay

Hi,
I have a plastic surgery institute in Florida where I pay my full time employee $95 per 8 hour day. Am I required to give her a break and if so how long must it be? Must it be a paid or unpaid break?

Also, if I am paying her those $95 daily for a 8 hour shift, does it mean that if I want her to come in on Saturday when I am open only 4 hours, that I have to pay her the full $95 or can I pay her half?

I guess what I mean is, can I have a required amount of hours to be completed in order to get the full daily pay rate?

Thank you so much!

First, the easy question: Florida has no lunch or break law. The best practice in HR would be to give the employee at a 30-minute unpaid meal break, however, there is no law that you must. Studies have shown that an employee who works 8 hours with an unpaid meal break acctually accomplishes more than an employee who works 8.5 hours with no meal break. Human beings function better when their basic physical needs are taken care of.

Now for the more complex issue of payroll:  The answer will depend upon whether the employee is exempt or non-exempt. At this point, we do not have enough information to make that determination. An exempt employee must be paid the entire daily salary. The non-exempt employees salary can be prorated based upon the number of hours that she works.

Your business is most likely covered under federal law, specifically the federal FLSA or Fair Labor Standards Act. Under that statute, any employee can be paid on a salary (rather than an hourly) basis. However, only employes with certain primary job duties are exempt. Non-exempt employees are entitled to overtime when they work more than 40 hours per week, and their pay can be docked when they work less than 40 hours per week. A non-exempt employee is basically an hourly employee who is paid by salary for the employers convenience, to streamline the payroll process.

Exempt employees must be paid the same salary for the day, regardless of how many or how few hours they work. Even if an exempt employee works only 10 minutes, he or she must be paid for the entire day. Exempt employees are paid the same salary each week and are not entitled to additional payment when they work overtime.

Read more at:http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/fairpay/fs17a_overview.pdf

If you cannot determine if this employee is exempt or not, post another question with more details.