Cheryl Orr and Heather Sager discuss exempt and non-exempt employee classification in a BLR webinar entitled ‘Wage Payments: What You Can and Can’t Legally Deduct from Employees’ Pay’. They provide the following information about exempt and non-exempt employees in the workplace.

• Can exempt employees be paid hourly and not on salary? Yes, exempt employees can be paid hourly as well as given a salary.
• The distinction between exempt and non-exempt employees is not based on how the employees are paid but rather on the classification of the employee i.e. either as exempt or non-exempt
• If an exempt employee quits on a Monday, can he or she still receive pay? If the employee has worked any portion of the week, then the employee is entitled to pay for the week in which work was done. Even if work is done for one day in the week, pay will be provided for the whole week
• If an exempt employee begins work in the middle of the week, should the employee be paid for the full week? Usually, the employee is paid based on when they actually started work rather than providing payment for time prior to the employee actually working

Cheryl D. Orr, Esq. is a partner and co-chair of the national Labor and Employment Practice Group at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP (www.drinkerbiddle.com). She concentrates her practice on defending employers against FLSA collective actions and state and federal wage and hour class actions, and she regularly litigates discrimination, harassment, and unfair competition claims, conducts high-level workplace investigations, develops plans for reductions in force, and offers employer advice and counseling. Orr frequently lectures on employment law topics.

Heather M. Sager, Esq. is also a partner in the Labor and Employment Practice Group at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. Sager focuses her practice on management-side representation in collective and class actions, with particular experience in wage and hour litigation under state and federal law, including representative claims brought under California Business & Professions Code Section 17200. She also regularly handles single and multi-plaintiff employment litigation in the areas of unfair competition, wrongful discharge, harassment and discrimination before state and federal courts and administrative agencies. In addition, Sager regularly provides management training seminars and advice and counsel on reductions in force, employee relations, and workplace policies and procedures for the firm’s clients.