Legal Question in Business Law in Illinois

I have been working as payroll specialist for a none profit company over ten year. For Full time none exempt employee, We always pay the rate they signed for when they started working for the company, no matter if they were working or meeting.

Last week there was a company rally for 2.25 hrs. I was told to pay full time none exempt employees for those 2.25 hrs the rate $8.25. (They emailed: the payment for staff rally, non-exempt staff are being compensated for 2.25 hours at the rate of $8.25.) We didn't let employees aware of it before head, and most of the employees only get half of their regular pay rate.

Is it legal to do that, I don't think it is right, within our work time, company asked employees to have a rally and pay them less money, their reason is they were not working at those 2.25 hours.

I don't want to do a wrong thing, but I don't know the rules, I hope I can get advice from lawyers.


Asked on 11/11/10, 9:50 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

I am not sure what is going on here. Are you saying that for a particular event ("rally") all staff were expected to attend and were incentivized to attend by paying them all the same amount per hour regardless of status at $1 over the federal minimum wage? Well, if the 2.25 hours was OVER the 40 hr work week, then overtime pay scale should have kicked in. If this was an employment related even DURING work hours, then employees should have been paid their regular wages for time served. If this was a BONUS, however, over and above regular pay, during the 40 hr week, to make sure everyone attended, then it is a good thing..... You may need to clarify what is going on first with the company. For all we know at this point they made a mistake. So make sure their communication is what they meant first.

The response given is not intended to create, nor does it create an ongoing duty to respond to questions. The response does not form an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to be anything other than the educated opinion of the author. It should not be relied upon as legal advice. The response given is based upon the limited facts provided by the person asking the question. To the extent additional or different facts exist, the response might possibly change. Attorney is currently licensed to practice law actively only in the State of Illinois, inactively in Florida. Responses are based solely on Illinois law unless stated otherwise.

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Answered on 11/16/10, 10:18 am


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