Human Resource Blog

California and Docking Pay

In California, we understand that if a salaried exempt employee shows up for any part of a single day in a pay week, then the entire week must be paid, and no docking is allowed. (This assumes the individual has also taken all other forms of paid leave, and has no futher paid leave available.)

You are partially correct in your assumptions. It is true that exempt employees are generally entitled to their full salary for any week in which they perform any work. You are also correct that an employer can deduct from paid leave balances for absences, although once this paid time off is exhausted, you may not deduct for any additional partial day absences.

However, it is not entirely true that no docking is allowed. There are several situations where an employer may deduct from an exempt employee’s pay: for absences of one or more full days for personal reasons other than illness or disability or absences due to illness or disability if the deduction is made in accordance with a bona fide sick or disability plan; to offset amounts paid for jury duty or military pay; for unpaid suspensions imposed for infractions of major safety rules or workplace conduct rules; for absences during the first & last weeks of work; & for leave taken under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Note that except in the case of FMLA, no deductions are to be made for partial day absences, even if the reason for the absence falls under one of the categories above.