Section 170-16-II - DEFINITIONSFor the purpose of these regulations, the following terms will be construed as follows:
A. "Administrative": In order for an individual to be considered a bona fide administrative worker, the employee's primary duty must consist of either (1) the performance of office or nonmanual work directly related to management policies or general business operations of the employer or the employer's customers, or (2) the performance of functions in the administration of a school system, or educational establishment or institution, or of a department or subdivision thereof, in work directly related to the academic instruction or training carried on therein, and (3) where the performance of such primary duty customarily and regularly includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment.B. "Bona fide" means authentic or genuine.C. "Executive": In order for an individual to be considered a bona fide executive, the employee's primary duty must consist of the management of the enterprise in which employed or of a customarily recognized department or subdivision thereof and includes the customary and regular direction of the work of two or more other full-time (or equivalent) employees therein.D. "Primary Duty" means, as a general rule, the activities in which an employee spends the major part, or over 50 percent of his or her time. A determination of whether an employee has exempting activities as his or her primary duty must be based on all the facts in a particular case. The amount of time spent in the performance of those duties is a useful guide in determining the primary duty of an employee. [As an example, an employee who spends over 50 percent of his or her time in management would have management as his or her primary duty.] Time alone, however, is not the sole test. Some other pertinent factors are the relative importance of the exempting duties as compared with other types of duties, the frequency with which the employee exercises discretionary powers, the relative freedom from supervision, and the relationship between the employee's salary and the wages paid other employees for the kind of nonexempt work performed.E. "Professional" In order for an individual to be considered a bona fide professional, the employee's primary duty must consist of the performance of work (1) requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning, or (2) work as a teacher in the activity of imparting knowledge, or (3) requiring invention, imagination, or talent in a recognized field of artistic endeavor, where the performance of such primary duty customarily and regularly includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment.F. "Salaried employee" means an employee who receives a predetermined fixed amount of wages that is no less than the amount required by 26 MRSA Sec.663(K) which is paid on a weekly or less frequent basis. Commissions or bonuses may not be used in determining the individual's predetermined amount of wages. Subject to the following exceptions, a salaried employee must receive his or her full salary for any week in which the employee performs any work without regard to the number of days or hours worked. The prohibition against deductions from pay for a salaried employee is subject to the following exceptions: 1. Deductions from pay may be made when a salaried employee is absent from work for one or more full days for personal reasons, other than sickness or disability. [Example: if an employee is absent for two full days to handle personal affairs, the employee's salaried status will not be affected if deductions are made from the salary for two full-day absences. However, if an exempt employee is absent for one and a half days for personal reasons, the employer can deduct only for the one full-day absence.]2. Deductions from pay may be made for absences of one or more full days occasioned by sickness or disability (including work-related accidents) if the deduction is made in accordance with a bona fide plan, policy or practice of providing compensation for loss of salary occasioned by such sickness or disability. The employer is not required to pay any portion of the employee's salary for full-day absences for which the employee receives compensation under the plan, policy or practice. Deductions for such full-day absences also may be made before the employee has qualified under the plan, policy or practice, and after the employee has exhausted the leave allowance thereunder. [Example: if an employer maintains a short-term disability insurance plan providing salary replacement for 12 weeks starting on the fourth day of absence, the employer may make deductions from pay for the three days of absence before the employee qualifies for benefits under the plan; for the twelve weeks in which the employee receives salary replacement benefits under the plan; and for absences after the employee has exhausted the 12 weeks of salary replacement benefits. Similarly, an employer may make deductions from pay for absences of one or more full days if salary replacement benefits are provided in accordance with State workers' compensation law.]3. An employer may not make deductions from pay for absences of a salaried employee occasioned by jury duty, attendance as a witness or temporary military leave. However, the employer may offset any amounts received by an employee as jury fees, witness fees or military pay for a particular week against the salary due for that particular week without loss of the exemption.4. Deductions from pay of salaried employees may be made for penalties imposed in good faith for infractions of safety rules of major significance. Safety rules of major significance include those relating to the prevention of serious danger in the workplace or to other employees, such as rules prohibiting smoking in explosive plants, oil refineries and coal mines.5. Deductions from pay of salaried employees may be made for unpaid disciplinary suspensions of one or more full days imposed in good faith for infractions of workplace conduct rules. Such suspensions must be imposed pursuant to a written policy applicable to all employees. [Example: an employer may suspend a salaried employee without pay for three days for violating a generally applicable written policy prohibiting sexual harassment. Similarly, an employer may suspend a salaried employee without pay for twelve days for violating a generally applicable written policy prohibiting workplace violence.]6. An employer is not required to pay the full salary in the initial or terminal week of employment. Rather, an employer may pay a proportionate part of an employee's full salary for the time actually worked in the first and last week of employment. In such weeks, the payment of an hourly or daily equivalent of the employee's full salary for the time actually worked will meet the requirement. Employees are not paid on a salary basis within the meaning of these regulations if they are employed occasionally for a few days, and the employer pays them a proportionate part of the weekly salary when so employed.7. An employer is not required to pay the full salary for weeks in which a salaried employee takes unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Rather, when an exempt employee takes unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, an employer may pay a proportionate part of the full salary for time actually worked. [Example: if an employee who normally works 40 hours per week uses four hours of unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, the employer could deduct 10 percent of the employee's normal salary that week.]8. When calculating the amount of a deduction from pay allowed under paragraph (1)-(7) above, the employer may use the hourly or daily equivalent of the employee's full weekly salary or any other amount proportional to the time actually missed by the employee. A deduction from pay as a penalty for violations of major safety rules under paragraph (4) may be made in any amount. A salaried employee will be considered to be paid on a "salary basis." Additional compensation besides the salary (minimum guarantee plus extras) is not inconsistent with the salary basis of payment. Such arrangements are subject to the exceptions in paragraphs 1 through 8 above.
12- 170 C.M.R. ch. 16, § II