An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 6 – Wage And Hour Laws

include the final tally of the vote, the size of the unit, and the nature of the business of the school. 654 Employees affected by a change in the work hours resulting from the adoption of an alternative workweek schedule may not be required to work those new work hours for at least 30 days after the announcement of the final results of the election. 655 Schools may not intimidate or coerce employees to vote either in support of or in opposition to a proposed alternative workweek. No employees may be discharged or discriminated against for expressing opinions concerning the alternative workweek election or for opposing or supporting its adoption or repeal. 656 4. S CHOOLS M UST M AKE R EASONABLE A CCOMMODATIONS A school must “explore any available reasonable alternative means of accommodating” an employee’s religious beliefs or observances if they conflict with an adopted alternative workweek schedule. 657 A school shall make a reasonable effort to find a work schedule not to exceed eight hours in a workday, in order to accommodate any affected employee who was eligible to vote in an election authorized by this section and who is unable to work the alternative workweek schedule established as the result of that election. 658 5. S UBSTITUTION O F O NE S HIFT F OR A NOTHER A T R EQUEST O F E MPLOYEE An employee may voluntarily request that he or she be allowed to substitute one “day of work” for another without the payment of overtime. 659 This means that an employee subject to an alternative workweek schedule may substitute one day of work for another of the same length in the alternative workweek. Since this provision is intended to accommodate “the personal needs of employees,” only the employee (and not the employer) may request the substitution, and the substitution must occur in the same workweek. In addition to an occasional request for a substitution within the workweek, an employee may request a change to a different alternative workweek option (if any exist). This can be done on a permanent basis after an election is held upon school approval. 660 C. M AKEUP W ORK T IME Employees may also make-up work time that would otherwise be lost due to a personal obligation by making a voluntary written request to their school. 661 If the make-up work is performed in the same workweek in which the time is lost, the make-up work does not count towards the employee’s daily overtime requirements, unless the make-up time causes the employee to work over 11 hours in a workday or 40 hours in a workweek. A make-up work time request may be made for a recurring personal obligation, which is “fixed in time over a succession of weeks” provided a written request is made every four weeks. The school is prohibited from soliciting or encouraging employees to make a request for makeup hours. However, a school may inform an employee of this right. 662

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 180