Exempt employees must be paid their regular salary regardless of attendance. Non-exempt employees don't need to be paid for voluntary events if they happen outside work hours, are unrelated to job duties, and involve no work.
Hey everyone, welcome to ERG of Heron HR. I'm Stuart Bailey, today bringing you the HR Snapshot of the Day. Had a question come in and I wanted to share our best practice around that question, so here we go. Do we need to pay employees for voluntary work events? The short answer is no. So exempt employees, or those who are not entitled to overtime, should be paid their salary regardless if they attend the event or not. And non-exempt employees, or those who are entitled to overtime, should not be paid if your event meets 3 criteria. One, it's outside of regular work hours. Two, it's non-work-related. And three, no work is performed. So if you meet those 3 criteria, you're good. No money is to be paid out. It's just a great event to have all your employees out and have some fun. If you guys have any more questions or any concerns, please comment them below. I'd love the opportunity to help you guys out. I'm gonna be doing an HR Snapshot at least once a week.
