The one exception to this rule is part day absences under the Family and Medical Leave Act. After the Abshire decision, the Department of Labor issued a new interpretative regulation disapproving of the Abshire decision for public, but not private, sector employees. The second way in which an exempt status can be destroyed is to pay the exempt employee on an hourly rather than salaried basis. The federal district court agreed with the employees, in part, because the employees' pay stub indicated compensation based on hours worked. Because of computerization many corporate payrolls now show the salary of exempt employees as an hourly figure.
Many companies even give pay raises to exempt employees on documents which reflect an hourly basis.
You should review your appropriate payroll documents to be sure that exempt employees are being shown as being paid on a salaried rather than an hourly basis. The third employment policy which can defeat an exempt status is one that applies disciplinary suspensions without pay for infractions of work rule other than safety rules of major significance to exempt employees. The courts have tended to construe this exception very narrowly. Upon being fired at a later time, the employee sued the hospital claiming back pay for unpaid overtime on the grounds that she had been improperly classified as an exempt, professional employee. The court concluded that the hospital's imposition of the disciplinary suspension caused the employee to lose her exempt status and awarded her the unpaid overtime.