An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 6 – Wage And Hour Laws

school if the employee will not agree to pay the remaining balance is to sue the employee in court (most likely small claims court) for the balance. D. U NIFORMS A ND E QUIPMENT When uniforms are required by the school to be worn by the employee as a condition of employment, the uniforms must be provided and maintained by the school. The term "uniform" includes wearing apparel and accessories of distinctive design or color. However, this section does not apply to protective apparel regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board. 738 Tools or equipment that are required by the school or are necessary to the performance of a job must be provided and maintained by the school. However, an employee whose wages are at least two (2) times the minimum wage may be required to provide and maintain hand tools and equipment customarily required by the trade or craft. This does not apply to protective equipment and safety devices on tools regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board. 739 Finally, a reasonable deposit may be required as security for the return of the items furnished by the school upon issuance of a receipt to the employee for such deposit. Such deposits shall be made pursuant to Labor Code section 400, et. seq., or a school with the prior written authorization of the employee may deduct from the employee's last check the cost of an item furnished in the event the item is not returned. No deduction may be made for normal wear and tear. 740 E. D EDUCTIONS F OR T ARDINESS Labor Code section 2928 allows deductions for tardiness that are proportionate to the wage which would have been earned during the lost time actually lost. For tardiness less than 30 minutes, the school may deduct a half hour. Thus, a school may only deduct thirty-five minutes of wages from an employee who was thirty-five minutes late, but could deduct thirty minutes from the wages of an employee who was only five minutes late. Schools are cautioned against having such a policy since it creates an incentive for employees who were going to be a few minutes late to be at least thirty minutes late since the deduction would be the same. Additionally, deductions are not permissible for overtime-exempt employees, as the deduction would violate the salary basis test. F. M EDICAL O R P HYSICAL E XAMINATION C OSTS It is improper for a school to withhold or deduct from the compensation of any employee, or require any employee to pay any fee for or costs of medical or physical examinations required by any law or regulation of federal, state or local governments or agencies. 741

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