4103 Compliance with Wage and Hour Laws
In order to assure the district continues to be in full compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and any other applicable state laws governing wage and hour requirements, employees must comply with the directives outlined below. The term “hourly” as used in this policy shall mean an employee who is not exempt from the wage and hour provisions of FLSA.
WAGE & HOUR ISSUES REGARDING HOURLY EMPLOYEES
Administrators and supervisors must make every effort to minimize overtime work (work in excess of 40 hours per workweek) for hourly employees. Hourly employees must make every effort to complete their work without exceeding 40 hours in the workweek and are required to seek pre-authorization from the appropriate administrator to work hours in excess of 40 hours per workweek.
If an administrator or supervisor wishes to utilize an employee from another department/division for provisional work that will cause the employee to exceed 40 hours in the workweek, the administrator or supervisor should coordinate with the administrator of the other department/division to minimize the overtime implications of the provisional work.
Hourly employees are not to be issued/assigned district laptop computers, nor shall the district facilitate the receipt of e-mail on an hourly employee’s phone, PDA or other hand-held device. Exceptions due to essential duties of
an employee’s job may be considered and authorized on a case-by-case basis by the Executive Director of Human Resources so that appropriate wage and hour considerations can be analyzed and communicated.
An hourly employee, when pre-authorized in writing by the appropriate administrator, may check out (for a limited period of time) a laptop computer for a particular, short-term, authorized work purpose (with all work time to be recorded and submitted appropriately).
Under circumstances where access to e-mail is available to an hourly employee outside of the regular work day (through whatever means, whether by work computer, home computer, laptop computer, cell phone, PDA, etc.), the employee must seek prior written authorization to utilize these resources outside of regular work hours and must record any and all time spent reading and/or responding to district business e-mail and performing other district work with the aid of such equipment.
REQUIREMENTS APPLICABLE TO HOURLY EMPLOYEES
Hourly employees must accurately record and submit all time worked on behalf of the district by using the district’s electronic time system or by a timesheet. Time must not be over-reported or under-reported.
Hourly employees must not work outside of the individual employee’s regular work hours without prior authorization of their administrator. Work not permitted outside regular work hours (without specific administrator pre-authorization) would include making or receiving business phone calls, reading and/or sending business e-mails (whether by computer, phone or other device); organizing, reviewing or preparing business documents; shopping for supplies on behalf of the district; and other business activities related to the employee’s job.
In most circumstances, hourly employees should be performing work during times when a supervisor or administrator is present at the work site. Exceptions for the specific job role, such as security officer or other approved role, or for a specific, urgent one-time need, must be approved by the administrator.
Hourly employees must not work from home without prior written authorization of the Executive Director of Human Resources. Under the unusual circumstance where the Executive Director of Human Resources has pre-authorized an hourly employee to work at home, the employee must record and submit the exact time he/she spent performing the authorized work. Work not permitted from home (without written pre-authorization of the Executive Director of Human Resources) would include making or receiving business phone calls, reading and/or sending business e-mails (whether by computer, phone or other device); organizing, reviewing or preparing business documents; and other business activities related to the employee’s job.
Hourly employees who do not obtain written pre-authorization to work outside of regular work hours or written pre- authorization to work from home, but who perform such work anyway, must record and submit the exact amount of time spent working, even though not pre-authorized in writing.
Hourly employees are prohibited from volunteering to do work for the district in any capacity that is similar to the individual employee’s regular job duties.
Hourly employees who work in excess of 40 hours in a given workweek will receive compensatory time at the rate of one and one-half hours per hour worked in excess of 40 hours in that workweek (pursuant to the agreement with the bargaining unit). Paid or unpaid leave days and holidays do not count as hours worked in the workweek.
Hourly employees will receive compensation for all hours worked, either by wages or by compensatory time (when applicable).
Hourly employees must make every effort to use compensatory time by June 30 of each fiscal year. Compensatory time remaining on June 30 of each year will be paid out to the employee. ADMINISTRATORS AND SUPERVISORS
Administrators and supervisors must not allow or permit hourly employees to work “off the clock.” Administrators and supervisors must require that all work performed by hourly employees on behalf of the district be accurately recorded and submitted.
Administrators and supervisors will carefully review time records of their hourly employees to determine that all hours worked by employees have been accurately recorded.
Administrators must require hourly employees to request written pre-authorization to work outside of regular work hours.
Administrators are to prohibit hourly employees from working at home, except in extraordinary circumstances where the Executive Director of Human Resources has pre-authorized in writing that the hourly employee may work from home for an urgent/extraordinary reason. After the Executive Director of Human Resources has pre-authorized in writing the work from home, the administrator must monitor that such work time is accurately recorded and submitted by the hourly employee.
Administrators and supervisors must monitor, to every extent possible, whether hourly employees are taking work home, responding to e-mail at home, answering business phone calls at home or otherwise working outside of regular work hours, and must monitor that such work time is accurately recorded and submitted (to the extent it can be ascertained by the administrator or supervisor that such work has occurred).
Even if work time is not authorized by the administrator or supervisor, when the administrator or supervisor knows work has been performed by the hourly employee on behalf of the district, the administrator or supervisor must ensure that such work time is recorded and submitted as hours worked.
DISCIPLINARY ACTION UNDER THIS POLICY
Disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment, may occur for any violation under this policy, including for the following reasons:
Failure of an hourly employee to accurately record all time worked.
Failure of an hourly employee to seek prior written authorization from his/her administrator for work performed outside of normal work hours or to seek prior written authorization from the Executive Director of Human Resources for work performed at home.
Failure of an hourly employee to refrain from working hours that have not been pre-authorized in writing by his/her administrator.
Any suggestion or directive by an administrator or supervisor to an hourly employee that would cause an hourly employee to believe that he/she should not record all of his/her work time on behalf of the district (whether authorized work time or non-authorized work time).
Adopted 11/10/08
Revised 11/8/10
Revised 12/9/13
Revised 12/14/15
Revised 12/11/17