Although our recent Summer Shutdown Survey reflected 13 companies closing on July 3rd, we've been receiving a lot of calls regarding companies closing and how other companies are handling their salaried people.

Attorney, Rob Dubault, Partner with Warner Norcross and Judd says that if employers decide to shut down and not let employees work, it cannot reduce an exempt employee's salary without running a risk of violating the salary basis requirement of the exempt test.

"To work around this, the employer can (a) pay the employee for that day (which is what most employers do); (b) require employees to use vacation or PTO to cover that day (which many also do), or (c) tell the employees they can work but if they choose to take the day off, then they can use vacation/PTO or they can take the day off without pay (as employers are permitted to make reductions from salary where an employee is absent for personal reasons for 1 or more full days)."