An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 6 – Wage And Hour Laws

If a school provides an additional pay that is not a flat-sum bonus or lump-sum payment, such as a production bonus directly correlated to the number of hours worked, then the bonus may be factored into the employee’s regular rate of pay by dividing it by the total number of hours worked (versus the number of non-overtime hours the employee worked). 726 LCW Practice Advisor

Schools are strongly encouraged to consult with an attorney regarding regular rate of pay calculations. The calculation will differ when, for example, an employee’s overtime hours qualify for double time because the regular rate of pay is multiplied by 2.0 instead of 1.5.

If the non-exempt employee is paid on other than a weekly basis, the pay must be reduced to a weekly basis and then reduced to hourly rate before the regular rate can be calculated. If the non-exempt employee is paid a salary, the hourly base rate must be calculated as follows prior to calculating the regular rate:  Multiply the monthly remuneration by 12 (months) to get the annual salary.  Divide the annual salary by 52 (weeks) to get the weekly salary.  Divide the weekly salary by the number of legal maximum regular hours (40) to get the hourly base rate. If an employee is paid every other week, the weekly pay is figured by dividing the two-week amount in half. So a person paid $1000 every two weeks earns $500 per week. If the employee is paid twice per month, however, the calculation of the weekly rate is somewhat different. A person paid twice per month receives 24 paychecks per year. To figure the weekly rate, the yearly rate is divided by 52. For example,

 Twice monthly pay = $ 1000.00 per check  Yearly pay then is 24 x $1000 = $24,000.00

 Weekly pay is therefore $24,000 / 52 weeks or $461.53  The hourly rate would be $461.53 / 40 hours = $11.54

Similarly, if an employee is paid on a monthly rate his weekly pay is figured by multiplying the monthly pay by 12 and then dividing it by 52 weeks. For example, an employee who earns  $1,900 per month:  12 months x $1,900 = $22,800.00  $22,800 / 52 weeks = $438.46 per week  The hourly rate would be $10.96 If no additional compensation is paid, the hourly base rate is the regular rate. If additional compensation is paid, use the hourly base rate to calculate the regular rate.

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 191