Warning: I am not a labor lawyer and I am repeating policies that
are in effect in Illinois. Labor laws vary from state to state.

First of all, labor laws are not written for specific industries.
There is no set of laws that apply to museums differently than
other office jobs.

Federal laws govern the use of "comp time" and the definition of
exempt versus non-exempt employees.

The short version is: if you're an exempt employee you are not
legally entitled to comp time. The assumption is that--yes--you
are supposed to be able to figure out when and how to accomplish
your job.

The flip side is that you must be allowed to take time off for doctor's
appointments and the like without being docked for the time you are
away from the office--if that time away is less than one full day.

Exempt employees should only be recording time away from the
office in increments of full days.

If you really have trouble with this, perhaps you could consult a labor
lawyer or a human resources professional in your state.

Best,
Diane Gutenkauf

On Sun, 20 Jan 2002 20:30:13 -0500, ann <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I am the Ex. Director for a new, small history museum. I am an exempt
>employee. My board will not give me hour for hour comp time, nor revise the
>personnel policy to reflect any discretionary time.  I was hired to "do
>whatever it takes to get the job done". "The Wal Mart manager works
>consistent 80 hour work weeks and thrives on it". You get the picture?  I
>work consistently on weekends and evenings, well beyond a 40 hour week. I
>am not going to be allowed to leave the building from 9-5 on personal
>business unless I take leave.
>
>Am I being a whiner and this is consistent with museums, or should I press
>for some policy that allows us "professionals" to know when we can be away
>from the building?
>
>Thanks

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).