Good morning all, and thanks in advance for reading this. I need advice. I have not contacted a lawyer yet.
I work in healthcare management and am in charge of a facility program funded by my state’s Department of Human Services. I was out sick for 10 days starting on 05/30/2022.
I came into the office on Monday, May 30th which was Memorial Day. I had originally planned on working Memorial Day and using the paid time off for another day. I arrived at the office, took a rapid Covid swab per our testing policy, and it came back positive. I then left the office and drove home, where I proceeded to complete assessments and enter the progress notes my company’s electronic medical record. I completed 5 assessments and responded to emails that day, all of which are documented.
On Tuesday 5/31 I worked from home as well. I completed 2 assessments, for which the progress notes are recorded into the electronic medical record, and responded to emails.
I worked Wednesday 6/1 and Thursday 6/2, responding to emails and completing further assessments and observations.
On Monday the 30th I sent out an email to my manager and the other department managers stating I would be working from home as I have deadlines for the program, and gave out my cell number if anyone needed to contact me. My manager stated “you will not be able to work from home all 10 days”. I misunderstood this as them likely wanting me back in the office sooner than the 10 days if I am not having symptoms.
On Monday June 6th, I received an email from human resources stating “I need your hours to submit payroll”. I submitted HR my hours that I had worked from home. My manager was included in the email, and responded that because I was not preapproved to work from home, I would not be compensated for the hours I worked. I worked approximately 27 hours.
I understand that I may not be able to be compensated for all of the hours, such as Friday 6/3, because I do not have proof of my work that day (I worked on a word document report on Friday, but because it wasn’t submitted in the electronic medical record I do not have timestamps for it).
But I do have proof of my work from the other days as I have electronic medical record notes and emails (both with timestamps) showing that I was completing assessments and responding to emails from home.
I have been informed that holiday pay for Memorial Day (even though I didn’t take it as a holiday), as well as extended illness time and paid time off will be used for that paycheck. This was at the decision of the interim administrator and my department manager.
I was under the impression that it was illegal not to compensate employees for work from home according to the Fair Labor Standards Act. I contacted our corporate human resources department about this on 6/9/22 and am still awaiting a response. I contacted my state’s department of labor via email on 6/15/22.
I’m not sure if this matters, but I am typically salaried at 40 hours a week. For the week I was out and worked from home HR added the following to my paycheck: 14.75 of EIT, 8 hrs of Holiday, and 7.25 of PTO.
Can I get some advice on this? Should I be reaching out to a lawyer?