As a new employee to the work force, how would I interpret this policy:
Comp-time, or time off in a future workweek to make up for extra time worked in the current workweek, is not acceptable for hourly (non-exempt) staff. Employees should be compensated for all time worked during the workweek in which it was worked.
When I first started working, my schedule was to have two days off per week. I was asked to work one of my regularly scheduled days off, so I ended up working a total of 48 hours that week. I was under the impression that while I would not be paid for the extra 8 hours, they would count as Compensatory Time, and I would be able to use that at a later date.
The following week, I requested a day off as my "comp time from last week." However, my boss told me "we are exempt employees and do not get comp time." He referenced the policy shown above.
In the end, my boss was cool and gave it to me anyway (he chalked it up to 'he is new here').
My questions are:
What does the above policy actually mean?
What does it mean to be an exempt employee? How about non-exempt?