context: In contrast to these authorities, numerous courts have held that employee compensation is "subject to reduction" under SS 541.118(a) if a policy of the employer provides for deductions disallowed by the DOL regulations for salaried employees regardless of whether such deductions have been made.
citation_a.signal: cf.
citation_a.identifier: 709 F.Supp. 241, 241
citation_a.parenthetical: letter ruling relied upon by defendant but not provided to court
citation_a.sentence: April 16, 1991); Knecht, 683 F.Supp. at 1311; cf. Banks, 708 F.Supp. at 1024-25 (letter ruling relied upon by defendant but not provided to court). But see Harris, 709 F.Supp. at 241; District of Columbia Nurses’ Ass’n, 1988 WL 156191, at *2 n. 1. Even if the cited paragraph from the 1986 letter ruling had the significance urged upon the Court by defendants, the “letter ruling cannot override the express provisions of a Department of Labor regulation” in any event.
citation_b.signal: see
citation_b.identifier: 707 F.Supp. 212, 215
citation_b.parenthetical: employer's policy under attack under FLSA and whether policy has been applied does not alter policy itself
citation_b.sentence: See Kinney, 994 F.2d at 11; Abshire, 908 F.2d at 487; Banks v. City of North Little Rock, 708 F.Supp. 1023, 1025 (E.D.Ark.1988) (no showing of actual deduction needed); Hawks v. City of Newport News, Va., 707 F.Supp. 212, 215 (E.D.Va.1988) (employer’s policy under attack under FLSA and whether policy has been applied does not alter policy itself); Persons v. City of Gresham, Or., 704 F.Supp. 191, 194 (D.Or.1988) (immaterial that an instance of actual deduction not alleged); Knecht v. City of Redwood City, 683 F.Supp. 1307, 1311 (N.D.Cal.1987) (lack of actual pay reduction does not alter analysis); see also Shockley, 997 F.2d at 21-25 (focusing upon defendant’s policy); Michigan Ass’n of Governmental Employees, 992 F.2d at 85-86 (focusing upon policy but, finding policy ambiguous, looking to application of policy). Moreover, courts have explicitly considered the impact of the enigmatic paragraph in the 1986 letter ruling upon their analysis and, in the opinion of the undersigned, correctly interpreted the 1986 letter ruling so that, although an occasional unpermitted deduction which is inadvertent or unintentional would not change an employee’s salary status, the frequency of actual deductions is immaterial to finding employees’ compensation “subject to reduction” where the employer has a policy allowing deductions for unpermitted reasons.