Can exempt employees be required to work specific hours?

Yes, you may establish a work schedule for an exempt employee and require them to abide by it.

Properly classified exempt employees don’t receive overtime pay and aren’t obligated to take meal or rest breaks on a set schedule. Exempt employees often are expected to work longer hours, such as nights and weekends. Their employer may allow exempt employees some flexibility because of the higher demands of their jobs.

Exempt status, however, does not mean that exempt employees are free to ignore work requirements and disregard the established business hours of their companies or the work schedules set by their employers.

It is reasonable for an employer to align the work hours of its exempt employees with business operations. It is certainly in a company’s best interests, for example, that its exempt managers are present and available to supervise and guide the staff they manage during the work hours of those nonexempt staff members.

There are sound business reasons for a company to require exempt employees to work regular schedules. Exempt employees frequently are critical to the day-to-day operations of the business. In addition, they often are looked to as “leaders” within the company and are expected to set examples for nonexempt employees.

If an exempt employee believes they’re entitled by their status to set their own work hours, the employer is presented with a discipline issue — not a pay deduction issue.

An employer should never link an exempt employee’s salary to the number of hours the employee works in a week. By dealing with attitude and attendance issues as a pay issue, the company jeopardizes the employee’s exempt status and risks transforming them into a nonexempt employee.

Because unpredictable, unreliable attendance is not a feature of an exempt employee’s status, an employer can discipline an employee for missing work.

Read more about Determining Exempt or Nonexempt Status in the HR Library.