DOL again OKs partial-day leave deductions

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently reaffirmed its position allowing an employer to make partial-day deductions from paid leave banks without risking employees' overtime-exempt status, and it has issued opinions finding that paralegals and certain junior insurance claims adjusters are entitled to overtime.

"Where an employer has a benefits plan (e.g., vacation time, sick leave), it is permissible to substitute or reduce the accrued leave in the plan for the time an employee is absent from work, whether the absence is a partial day or a full day, without affecting the salary basis of payment, if the employee nevertheless receives in payment his or her guaranteed salary," DOL said in a Jan. 7 letter.

The regulations permit limited full-day deductions from pay and even more limited partial-day deductions from pay. But some confusion has prevailed over the past 15 years or so as to whether partial-day deductions from paid leave banks--as opposed to partial-day deductions from pay--compromise an employee's salaried status.

DOL cited its updated regulations in another opinion, stating that "[p]aralegals and legal assistants generally do not qualify as exempt learned professionals because an advanced specialized academic degree is not a standard prerequisite for entry into the field."

DOL states also that insurance claims adjusters "generally meet the duties requirements for the administrative exemption." However, certain junior insurance adjusters are not exempt administrative employees. DOL said, again reinforcing the case-by-case nature of classification decisions.

--Margaret M. Clark, J.D., SPHR, is senior legal editor for HR News.

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