I'm taking a day off. My boss expects me to check email from home. If I answer emails from home or take a call during my day off, do I have to count this as a day off since I've actually worked?
I am salaried exempt.
I'm taking a day off. My boss expects me to check email from home. If I answer emails from home or take a call during my day off, do I have to count this as a day off since I've actually worked?
I am salaried exempt.
If you're expected to check e-mails, then it's not a day off and you need to be paid.
As this article from the Law Office of Kristine A. Sova explains (emphasis added):
...the reality is that technological tools, both company-issued and personal, have increased employee accessibility, especially when off site or after hours. This increased accessibility in turn increases the possibility that employees are performing off-the-clock work that should be paid. And, work that arguably should be paid, but isn’t, creates an avenue for employees to assert unpaid wage claims against their employers.
How can this be? Through five magic words: “suffer or permit to work.”
“Suffer or permit to work” means that if an employer requires or allows employees to work, the time spent is generally hours worked, and must be paid. The result is that time spent doing work not requested by the employer, but still allowed, is generally hours worked, if the employer knows or has reason to believe that the employees are continuing to work and the employer is benefiting from the work being done.