Legal Question in Employment Law in California
Deduct sick days for overtime exempt employees?
My wife has been a teacher at a California charter school for 4 years now. She has never had missed days deducted from her paychecks, does not submit a timecard, and is not paid for overtime. The week before last, she informed her employer that she would not be returning for the next school year. This week they informed her that they would be deducting several thousand dollars from her last paycheck for days missed throughout the year?
The way I understand what I have read, either she is exempt, and must be paid regardless of hours worked, or she is non-exempt and must be paid for overtime. Is this understanding correct?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Deduct sick days for overtime exempt employees?
Is the Charter school private or public? Also, was your wife classified as exempt or non-exempt? You are correct that if your wife was non-exempt (or had been misclassified as exempt when she should have been classified as non-exempt), she may be entitled to overtime pay. The failure to keep time records may present a problem of proof, however. In any case, please visit my website at http://www.tgm-law.com and contact me if I can be of further assistance.
Re: Deduct sick days for overtime exempt employees?
partial answer (as you can see, any wage and hour question is very fact-specific and complicated.) feel free to send an email privately if you have more questions:
Existing law allows the Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) to establish exemptions from the overtime compensation requirements for executive, administrative and professional employees, provided that the employee is primarily engaged in the duties that meet the test of the exemption, customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment in performing those duties, and earns a monthly salary equivalent to no less than two times the state minimum wage for full-time employment. With respect to the professional exemption, existing law states that a person is employed in a professional capacity, among other requirements, if the employee is licensed by the State of California and is primarily engaged in the practice of one of the following recognized professions: law, medicine, dentistry, . . . teaching or accounting. "Teaching is defined as meaning the employee is engaged in the "profession of
teaching under a certificate from the Commission for Teacher Preparation and Licensing or teaching in an accredited college or university."