Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Assuming you are legitimately classified as an exempt (salaried) employee, it is lawful for an employer to require employees to clock in and out and to adhere to a schedule. There are many legitimate reasons employers may do this. Yes, an employer can terminate an employee for being late. But they cannot dock your pay if, for example, you are an hour late because they may lose they exemption by doing so.

Mr. Kirschbaum is exactly right. The exempt status of a salaried employee does not preclude clocking in and out, and does not preclude discipline or termination for being tardy. The only thing it precludes is docking your pay for being late. You must be paid by the day, not by hours or minutes, to retain exempt status.

Time keeping can be required, of course. Be careful how you deal with your complaint. Salaried or not, unless an employee is civil service, in a union, or has a written employment contract, they are an 'at will' employee that can be disciplined or fired any time for any reason, with or without �cause�, explanation or notice, other than for illegal discrimination, harassment or retaliation under the ADA disability, Civil Rights [age, race, sex, ethnic, religion, pregnancy, etc], Whistle-blower, or similar statutes. The employee's goal should be to keep the employer happy and make the company money. That�s how they pay your wages. Now if the firing was illegal under those definitions, feel free to contact me for the legal help you�ll need..