Human Resources Administrative Practice Manual

Time Away from Work

Fair Labor Standards Act Leave

Citation Reference
Official Title	Policy on FLSA Leave
Abbreviated Title	FLSA
Volume	Human Resources
Responsible Office	Human Resources
Originally issued
Revised	January 2008

Policy Statement

When an exempt employee is absent from work for less than one (1) scheduled workday and his/her accumulated leave is insufficient to cover the partial day of absence, the employer will:

deduct the cost for such leave in hourly increments from an exempt employee’s salary; or
place the exempt employee on leave without pay.

Such action by the employer will not disqualify the exempt status of the employee’s position (29 CFR 541.5d).

Reason for Policy

This policy ensures compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act. This policy provides that the University System of Georgia as a public entity is allowed to have a leave program available to employees and from which an exempt employee will draw leave in the event of an absence from the workplace. Such a leave bank program is allowable under the law for public employers recognizing their need to be responsible to the public. The policy also ensures consistency among institutions of the University System in recording leave taken when an employee has exhausted leave from his/her paid leave bank without jeopardizing the exempt status of the employee under the law.

Entities Affected By This Policy

All units of the University System of Georgia are covered by this policy.

Who Should Read This Policy

All Human Resources personnel and employees within the University System of Georgia should be aware of this policy.

Contacts

Contact	Phone	Email/URL
Office of Human Resources	404-962-3235	usg-hr@usg.edu
Institution Chief Human Resources Officers		See University System HR Officer Listing at http://www.usg.edu/hr/officers/

Website Address for This Policy

http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/flsa

Definitions

These definitions apply to these terms as they are used in this policy:

Board of Regents: The governing body of the University System of Georgia
FLSA Leave: Concerns exempt employees unpaid leave from work that covers less that one scheduled workday when the employee’s accumulated leave under one of the USG’s paid leave programs is insufficient to cover the leave.

Overview

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, record keeping, and child labor standards affecting full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. The FLSA also allows public employers to provide paid leave programs that may be used by employees to account for their absences from the workplace. Such leave programs do not jeopardize the exempt status of an employee even if leave is reported in hour increments or some variation thereof. Public employers may also dock the pay of an exempt employee for leave taken when the employee’s accumulated leave is insufficient to cover the leave without jeopardizing the employee’s exempt status.

Process/Procedures

FLSA Leave policy: http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/flsa

Responsibilities

The responsibilities each party has in connection with the Policy on FLSA Leave are:

During FLSA Leave:

Party	Responsibility
Vice Chancellor for Human Resources, USG	Maintain leave, provide guidance to institution human resources officers on effective utilization of policy, monitor for compliance, update the system as necessary, and respond to campus requests for updates.
Institution Chief Human Resources Officers	Ensure appropriate utilization of the USG FLSA leave on their respective campuses, including its relation to exempt employees.

Forms

None

Appendices