FILE:  GBAA

Cf:  GBA

 

COMPENSATION GUIDELINES/OVERTIME

 

 

The Lincoln Parish School Board, for purposes of accurate and timely wage and salary determinations, and in an attempt to ensure consistency and fairness in the application and interpretation of federal regulations established in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), sets forth the following guidelines:

 

MINIMUM WAGE

 

The minimum wage paid on an hour-by-hour basis to all Lincoln Parish School Board employees, either full or part time, permanent or temporary, shall be at least equal to the federal minimum wage.

 

WORKWEEK

 

A workweek shall be a continuous period of 168 hours in the form of seven (7) consecutive 24-hour periods.  The school system workweek begins at 12:01 a.m. each Monday for all employees and runs for seven (7) consecutive days.  Each workweek stands alone for the purpose of determining overtime pay for nonexempt employees.

 

TRAVEL

 

Ordinary travel time from home to a work or school location or vice versa is not work time.  Official travel that occurs during an individual’s regular working hours shall be considered hours worked.

 

LEAVE

 

Time taken for annual leave, sick leave, leave without pay or other leave taken for the purpose of jury duty, military assignment, or because of death in the family shall not be counted as time worked and is therefore not counted as compensable time for the purpose of overtime pay.

 

PART TIME IN DIFFERENT CAPACITY

 

If individuals are employed in one capacity but voluntarily work part time in a different capacity on an occasional or sporadic basis, the hours logged in the secondary voluntary capacity shall not be counted as hours worked for overtime purposes.

 

CLASSIFICATION OF EXEMPT AND NONEXEMPT EMPLOYEES

 

Exempt – Employees who are not eligible to receive overtime compensation.  These employees are generally salaried employees whose primary duties are directly related to the management or administrative and business functions within the school system.  Learned professionals, such as teachers, are also classified as exempt.  Other exempt employees may include, but not be limited to, the Superintendent, supervisors, principals, assistant principals, and department heads.

 

Nonexempt – Employees who are eligible to receive overtime compensation.  These employees perform work involving repetitive manual operations, such as maintenance employees, food service employees, janitors and custodians, bus operators, and security personnel.  Nonexempt employees may also include office employees who perform non-manual labor, such as secretaries, paraprofessionals, clerks, bookkeepers, nurses, data-processing operators and technicians.

 

Utilizing the provisions of and accompanying regulations implementing the Fair Labor Standards Act, the School Board shall classify all employees of the school system as exempt or nonexempt for purposes of determining eligibility for overtime compensation.

 

HOURS WORKED FOR OVERTIME REQUIREMENTS

 

Hours worked for nonexempt employees means all hours during which the individual is required to be on duty – generally from the required starting time to normal quitting time.  Meal periods do not count as hours worked unless the individual is required to perform work duties during the meal period.  Break periods of twenty (20) minutes or longer do not count as work time.  Hours worked do not apply to exempt employees.  Exempt employees are excluded from the overtime requirements and their work schedules may include meetings, extracurricular activities, parent conferences, planning time and other professional responsibilities of the position.

 

OVERTIME

 

Overtime hours will be held to a minimum consistent with the needs and requirements of sound and orderly administration.  The Superintendent or his/her designee shall approve all overtime in advance.  Overtime assignments shall be permitted only when required by operational necessity.  All hours worked by nonexempt employees must be scheduled and duly authorized.  Overtime hours worked over forty (40) hours during the workweek must be authorized in writing by the building principal or department head prior to the time the work is performed.  Unauthorized overtime shall not be tolerated.

 

Nonexempt employees who perform approved work in excess of forty (40) hours per workweek shall be paid overtime compensation at the rate of one and one-half (1½) the employees hourly rate of pay.  Nonexempt employees who work fewer than forty (40) hours in a workweek shall not be paid overtime compensation unless they work more than forty (40) hours in a workweek.  Such employees shall be paid their regular rate of pay for time worked up to forty (40) hours.

 

Where an employee in a single workweek works at two (2) or more different types of work for which different straight-time rates have been established, the employee’s regular rate for that week is the weighted average of such rates.  That is, the earnings from all such rates are added together.  This total is then divided by the total number of hours worked at all jobs.

 

Flexible Time

 

Principals, supervisors, and department heads are strongly encouraged to adjust daily schedules of nonexempt employees to prevent nonexempt employees from working more than forty (40) hours in a workweek.

 

VOLUNTEERS

 

A volunteer is defined as an individual who receives no compensation or who is paid expenses, reasonable benefits, or a nominal fee to perform the services for which the individual volunteered and such services are not the same type of service which the individual is employed to perform for the school district.

 

RECORD-KEEPING

 

Exempt Employees

 

The following records shall be kept for each employee classified as exempt:

 

 

Nonexempt Employees

 

The following records shall be kept for each employee classified as nonexempt:

 

 

Retention of Records

 

Records which shall be preserved for at least three (3) years shall include:

 

 

Records which need to be preserved for two (2) years include:

 

 

SPECIAL SITUATIONS

 

Nonexempt employees -- cannot volunteer to work performing normal duties, for example, janitors to clean up after events without such time counting as hours worked during that workweek.

 

Meetings – when authorized or required shall be counted as hours worked.

 

In-Service Training – when authorized or required shall be counted as hours worked.

 

Extracurricular Activities -- when nonexempt employees work in extracurricular activities such as coaching and cheerleader sponsor, etc., the time shall count as hours worked.

 

Waiver of Rights – nonexempt employees shall not be allowed to waive their rights under the FLSA.

 

Bus Operators – uninterrupted time off between the morning and afternoon runs shall not count as hours worked.

 

Students -- vocational students performing work as part of a curriculum are students and not workers, therefore, wages are not mandatory under FLSA.  Students helping in office capacities for short periods of time are volunteers and not employees and wages are not mandatory under FLSA.

 

Acknowledgement of Policy

 

Employees shall be provided a copy of this policy and required to sign a statement to acknowledge their receipt of the policy.

 

Revised:  July 13, 2021

 

 

Ref:    29 USC 201 et seq. (Fair Labor Standards)

La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:84.1, 17:422.6

Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority et al., 469 U.S. 528 (1985)

Board minutes, 10-4-05, 7-13-21

 

Lincoln Parish School Board