hourly vs salaried.

[Orin Nisenson]

Hi,

My home care agency is looking at changing the way it compensates the nurses from hourly to salaried. Has anyone had experience with nurses being paid by salaried positions and what do others think of this idea.

Thanks, Orin

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Carefully check out their rational for change...are they saying you will be salary exempt employee cause you "Supervise" HHA's and therfore won't get OT. If exempt..Salary can add duty time to length of day for "Special projects" with comp time being given off instead.

Think carefully about this.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exempt vs. Non-exempt Employees

http://asap-payroll.com/exempt.html

A common misconception some employers have regarding exempt and non-exempt employees is that if they are on salary they are exempt from overtime and if they are hourly then they are non-exempt. This is not necessarily true. Both exempt and non-exempt employees may be paid either hourly or salary. Because an employee is on salary does not mean they are exempt from overtime.

All employees must be paid at least the federal minimum wage which is $5.15. A non-exempt employee would be due overtime (time-and-a-half) for working more than 40 hours in one workweek or more than 12 hours in one day. Non-exempt employees who are paid a salary are also due overtime whenever they work over 40 hours in a week or over 12 hours in a day.

In order for an employee to be exempt, they must meet the following criteria:

Their primary duty is managing the business or performing office work related to management or general business operations.

They supervise 2 or more employees.

They can hire, fire and make promotion recommendations.

They spend no more than 20% of their workweek doing nonexempt work, which is considered manual work or repetitive work.

Their duties require advanced knowledge in science or a specialized field.

Some examples of exempt employees are, President of a company, General Manager, Executive Secretary, Supervisor, Attorney, Teacher, Physician, or Scientist.

All other employees are entitled to overtime compensation when they work over 40 hours in a week or beyond 12 hours in a day.

Also check out: http://www.ksu.edu/policies/ppm/4220.html

Has excellent desccription of laws and how it applies to nurses at Kansas State...pretty standard info.

Court Case can be found @:http://www.gilliland.com/Elwell.htm