Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Re: Company forcing me to take unpaid time off

Generally, an employer can not reduce the pay of a salaried exepmt employee because of a forced day off. This would change the employee's status to non-exempt requiring premium pay for all overtime hours worked. On the other hand, the employer can lawfully institute a pay reduction applicable to all exempt employees and so long as the reduction does not reduce pay below the minimum pay for exempt employees (two times the minimum wage = $540 per week / $28,080 annually)you could be required to work all necessary hours.

Finally, many companies may call some employees exempt, but in reality they are not exempt. Exempt employees must meet strict duties and compensation standards. Many employees called managers are not exempt because the majorty of thier duties are not exempt duties or they perform much the same work as other employees. Thus it may be helpful to have your duties reviewed by an employment attorney to determine whether you are properly classified as exempt. Call me if you would like to discuss this further.

Re: Company forcing me to take unpaid time off

If by "salaried" you mean you are an exempt employee, they cannot force you off without pay for a day. You may then become non-exempt and all overtime, etc., is payable. Contact to review all info.