An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 6 – Wage And Hour Laws

4. P AYDAY N OTICE R EQUIRED Every school shall keep posted conspicuously at the place of work, if practicable, or otherwise where it can be seen as employees come or go to their places of work, or at the office or nearest agency for payment kept by the school, a notice specifying the regular pay days and the time and place of payment. 689 5. P RIVATE A GREEMENT M AY N OT C ONTRAVENE P AY P ROVISIONS Schools and employees may not agree to pay employees less frequently than the Labor Code requires. However, they may agree to pay wages at more frequent intervals, or in greater amounts, or in full when or before wages are due. 690 6. P AYMENT O F W AGES D UE D ECEASED E MPLOYEES In event of an employee’s death, the surviving spouse or the guardian or conservator of the estate of the surviving spouse may collect salary or other compensation up to $15,000. 691 To collect the wages, the surviving spouse must submit an affidavit to the school that is in compliance with the requirements of California Probate Code §13601. Additionally, California law provides that unclaimed property, including money, must be turned over to the Controller of the State of California within three years after the debt was incurred. 692 D. C OMPENSATORY T IME O FF Private schools may not pay employees overtime in the form of compensatory time off (“CTO”). Although state law allows an employee to receive CTO in lieu of overtime compensation at a rate of not less than one and one-half hours for each hour of required overtime, federal law does not allow non-public agencies to provide CTO. 693 Therefore, under federal law, private schools may not offer employees CTO. This prohibition includes any type of system, whether formal or informal, by which overtime hours worked by an employee in a workweek are carried over to a later workweek when the employee can take time off. E. M ETHOD O F P AYMENT OF W AGES 1. W AGES M UST B E P AID I N C ASH O R I NSTRUMENT N EGOTIABLE I N C ASH The requirements placed on the school regarding the payment of wages are:  Wages must be paid in cash or by an instrument payable in cash money (e.g. check or money order) that does not cost money to negotiate.

 The instrument must have the name and address of an established business within California where it can be cashed even if the instrument is drawn on an out-of-state institution.

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 185