DEAR CARRIE: I've worked for a small wholesale distributor for 10 years. Three years ago a larger company bought the business, but we in the office have continued doing the same work. I do bookkeeping, manage a staff and serve as a liaison with human resources.

Ever since I started, everyone who performed office duties, including me, was considered exempt. Now headquarters wants to change us to hourly employees, or nonexempt workers. Management describes the proposed change as being for our benefit because we'll be able to get overtime. But realistically we'll end up losing in a lot of ways. Can the company change our status to nonexempt?- Status StaticDEAR STATUS: Yes. The company can legally do that. It seems unfair, especially if your duties haven't changed. But the move would be legal.

"Companies certainly have the prerogative of properly categorizing an employee according to the needs of their position and all their personnel needs," said Irv Miljoner, who heads the U.S. Labor Department's Long Island office in Westbury.

In fact it is much easier to declare an employee nonexempt than exempt.

The criteria for nonexempt workers is relatively simple. Those employees must earn the minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour; they have to be paid for all the hours they work and must be paid overtime when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek.

To declare an employee exempt, that is exempt from the above rules, an employer has to abide by more detailed regulations. Eligible employees can be classified into one of four basic exempt categories: executive, professional, administrative and outside sales. The executive exemption, for example, requires that the employee make at least $455 a week, have duties that primarily consist of managing, manage at least two full-time employees and have the ability to hire or fire.

Employers often prefer the exempt category, because they don't have to pay overtime and the savings can be considerable.

Your question is unusual in that employers that change an employee's status generally switch an employee from nonexempt to exempt and not the other way around as in your case.

A company might make the switch to exempt if it doesn't have that much overtime and wants to pay employees only for the hours worked and not a guaranteed salary, Miljoner said. And sometimes a manager's duties expand to include considerable nonexempt work, obligating the company to change the employee's status.

"There are legitimate reasons and compliance reasons to do it," Miljoner said.

DEAR CARRIE: Our company offers employees two personal days off each year. Can the company legally ask an employee why he or she is taking this day off?- Too Nosy?DEAR TOO: That depends. If the employer is asking because it must allow the employee to take time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act or because of an accommodation for a disability, "the question may be appropriate," said Ellen Storch, counsel at Kaufman Dolowich Voluck & Gonzo in Woodbury.

But employers must keep in mind that New York labor law makes it unlawful for employers to take "adverse employment actions" against an employee simply because the worker has engaged in lawful off-duty recreational or political activity, such as political campaigning, she said.

"Therefore, employers should consider whether they really want or need to know why an employee is taking a personal day," Storch said.

Get the latest news and more great videos at NewsdayTV Credit: Newsday

MacArthur LIRR connection ... Pink poping up in Farmingdale ... Fitness Fix: Deer Park Athletic Club ... Get the latest news and more great videos at NewsdayTV

FLASH SALE

$1 FOR ONE YEAR

Unlimited Digital Access

SUBSCRIBE NOW >>Cancel anytime - new subscribers only