An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 6 – Wage And Hour Laws

Both the Legislature and the IWC have clearly indicated that the salary requirement of two times the minimum wage cannot be prorated for part-time work. 513

1. E XEMPT E MPLOYEES M UST B E P AID O N A S ALARY B ASIS In addition to the salary amounts discussed above, an exempt employee must also be paid on a “salary basis,” which means that the employee must receive his or her full salary for any week regardless of the number of days or hours worked as long as the employee has performed some work. 514 A school also cannot reduce an exempt employee’s pay based on the quality or quantity of work performed. 515 However, a school may deduct a week’s salary if no work is performed in the work week. Discipline that results in a pay reduction, such as a suspension, may violate the salary basis test if it is imposed for increments of time other than a full work week. 2. D EDUCTIONS F OR F ULL D AY A ND P ARTIAL D AY A BSENCES A school may require exempt employees to use time from their leave banks when they are absent from work. Requiring use of leave is not considered to be a salary deduction. 516 Therefore, the employee’s exempt status will not be affected. A school may also reduce an exempt employee’s pay for a full day absence if the employee voluntarily takes the leave for personal reasons (other than sickness or disability), there is no leave is available in the employee’s leave bank, and the employee does not perform any work for the entire work day. LCW Practice Advisor Schools should be sure that employees have not engaged in any work when deducting pay for a full-day absence. Checking email, voice mail, or sending text messages could be considered work that would undermine a full-day absence. Reducing an exempt employee’s pay for partial-day absences is prohibited. 517 An hourly reduction signals the intent to pay hourly and the school may lose the exemption for that employee. 518 Although a school may not dock pay for a partial-day absence, it can require an exempt employee to use leave if he or she is absent for part of the day during school hours. 519 3. A DDED P AYMENTS F OR E XTRA W ORK Although a school cannot deduct an exempt employee’s pay, it may give an exempt employee extra compensation for hours worked in excess of the employee’s standard work week. 520 The DOL has unequivocally and consistently declared that additional compensation in the form of hourly overtime payments does not defeat an employee’s exempt status under the salary test. 521 The extra compensation may be in the form of straight time, time and one half pay, a flat sum, or other forms of compensation at the discretion of the school.

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 155