We are considering closing the office the day before an upcoming holiday, giving employees an unpaid day off. How would this work for our exempt employees?

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, exempt employees, who are not eligible for overtime pay, must receive their regular salary regardless of the hours worked in a workweek. If your exempt employees are working during a holiday week, you cannot designate it as an unpaid day for them.

Similar to nonexempt employees, you can require exempt employees to use their accrued vacation or paid time off (PTO) to cover the closure. However, if exempt employees do not have enough accrued vacation or PTO, they still need to be paid during the closure, unless they did not perform any work during the workweek. If you plan to enforce the use of PTO or vacation for closures, it is important to clearly communicate this in your employee handbook or policies, ensuring that employees are aware of the expectations

This Q&A does not constitute legal advice and does not address state or local law.