Human Resource Blog

Holiday Pay for Exempt Employee

Our employee manual states that no holiday pay will be issued to those within the first 90 days of employment. We have an exempt employee who is within that 90 day window and the upcoming pay period includes the Christmas and New Years holiday—can the holidays be deducted from her pay or should she be paid regardless of the company policy?

If the employee is available to work on those days, she must be paid her full weekly salary regardless of company policy regarding holiday pay. You do not have to count the two days a *holiday pay*, however, the employee is entitled to her full salary for each week.

Under the federal FLSA or Fair Labor Standards Act, an exempt employee who is ready, willing and able to work the entire week, and works any portion of the week, must be paid her full weekly salary. This is true, even if the employer has no work for her on certain days. In this case, if the office is closed on Christmas and New Years, you have no work available for the employee. Because she worked a portion of the week, she must be paid her full salary.

The means that you can require the employee to work on Christmas and New Years if you like. If the office is closed, she could be required to work from home.

The situation would be different if the employee were not available for work on that day. Suppose you asked the employee to work on New Years and she declined, telling you that she was driving 100 miles away to visit her mother. In that case, the employee would be taking the day off for personal business, and you would not need to pay her.