An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 3 – Hiring

C. R ECORDKEEPING Employers must keep on file all Permits to Employ and Work. Failure to produce the permits is prima facie evidence of the illegal employment of minors and may subject an employer to civil penalties. 386 Records must be open at all times for inspection by school authorities and officers of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. 387 Employers of minors must keep for two years a record showing the names, ages (dates of birth), and addresses of all minors employed as well as time and payroll records required by the applicable Industrial Welfare Commission Order. Employers must furnish this information upon request for inspection. 388 U NPAID I NTERNS Some private schools hire unpaid interns to work at the school for a learning experience. The employment status of unpaid interns is not always entirely clear. The Wage and Hour Laws Chapter addresses the criteria for determining whether an individual is an unpaid intern or an employee under the FLSA. The determination of an individual’s status as an unpaid intern or an employee under the FLSA should direct the school as to the process followed to hire the individual. To the extent an individual qualifies as an employee under the FLSA, the school should follow the hiring processes discussed above applicable to employees. To the extent an individual qualifies as an unpaid intern, the school should follow the hiring processes discussed above applicable to volunteers. In addition, it is particularly important for schools to have policies in place to ensure that unpaid interns who will be alone with children, or who supervise young children, undergo a background check. M ANDATED R EPORTERS Individuals employed by private schools who work with minors, or have direct contact with them, are obligated to report known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect. The Mandated Reporting Chapter addresses in detail which employees at schools are mandated reporters and what their reporting obligations are. The California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (“CANRA”) requires schools to have all individuals who qualify as mandated reporters, prior to commencing employment and as a prerequisite of that employment, sign a form provided by the school in which the individuals acknowledge that they understand their responsibilities as mandated reporters. 389 The acknowledgment form specifies, among other things, that the employees are mandated reporters and their obligations as mandated reporters, and attaches the portions of the CANRA that schools are required by law to provide to employees. The Mandated Reporting Chapter of the Compendium contains a sample form. 390 Section 13 Section 14

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