Question- Can I nominate more than one person for Classified Employee of the Year?
Answer- Yes. You can nominate as many classified employees as you like. They do not have to work at your school/work location . They may work at other schools or work locations as you.
Question- Holiday Leave
What is the current information about the policy allowing staff to leave an hour early the day before a holiday and how does it appliy to classiied staff?
Answer- Employees may not take time off during the normal student school day. In accordance with a long-standing custom and tradition of this school system, fulltime school-based employees and employees of the Administrative Center and other administrative departments will be allowed to end their work day one hour early on the day preceding an observed holiday. A list of holidays follows:Labor Day,Veterans’ Day,Thanksgiving , Christmas*, New Years, Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, Easter, Memorial Day, and Fourth of July.
*Please note these times on your calendar; you will not receive any further communication regarding early dismissal. This office is making a concerted effort to reduce unnecessary mailings as well as conserve paper.
* Fulltime, school-based employees shall be permitted the equivalent of two hours leave with pay during the week (five work days) prior to the Christmas holiday. The leave time may not be taken during the student instructional day.
* Fulltime employees of the Administrative Center and other administrative departments shall be permitted to leave work one hour early, with pay on two of the days during the week (five work days) prior to the Christmas holiday. One of these days must be the last workday prior to the holiday.
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Question- Comp Time
Many classified employees are concerned about the comp time that they earn because they may be required to stay for a school event after normal school hours. Problem concerns amount of time for them to use the earned c.t. - Principals are stating that it must be used within the week of it being earned, this is most of the time not possible (i.e. if earned on a thursday, week ends on friday; if they have classroom duties with students, this would put pressure and inconvenience lead teacher; etc.....). Also, classified are being given c.t. as straight time, rather than 1.5
Answer- Principals and supervisors may set conditions under which comp time may be earned and used, and may insist that time worked outside of the typical workday be taken off before the end of the same week. In fact, the law requires supervisors to be sure to allow the opportunity to use comp time which has been earned. If the additional time worked amounts to over 40 for a particular week it must be carried over at time-and-a-half, so principals are motivated to insist that time be made up in such a way as to avoid carrying over balances from one week to another.
If an employee has been instructed to use the comp time they earn by the end of the week and does not know how to do so, they should ask their supervisor directly, perhaps in writing, what the expectations are for when this time may be taken off. Merely telling an employee that they must take the time off by the end of the week and then failing to grant such a request will not meet the requirements of the law.
Some principals allow their teacher assistants to "bank" comp time... which means allowing them a slightly shorter workday (say, 7 hours and 45 minutes) and then expect them to attend certain mandatory after-school events such as PTA meetings. In all cases these after-school events do not come close to using all of the banked time, and under the law this is permissible. On the weeks where the after-school event takes place the time worked carries over at time-and-a-half ONLY if the total hours physically worked for the week exceeds 40.
The WS/FCS Board of Education has set the official work week as the week-long period beginning at midnight Friday.
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Question- Work Hours for Teacher Assistants
I have been approached by several classified employees with regards to 'downtime' such as breaks and/or lunch. Because of new programs put in place, my classified teacher assistants are working with students in the classrooms with the Imagine It program, plus taking care of their other duties as teacher assts. Plus before and after school duty and cafeteria duty. It has been brought to my attention that the majority of these individuals do not have any break times in the AM or PM, and lunch is eaten (maybe) while monitoring as many as 100 students in the cafeteria (an entire grade level). What if any are the Wage and Labor laws that would be applicable to these employees? Are they entitled to a 30 minute lunch, or at least a 15 minute break in the morning and afternoon? They are all full-time employees.
Answer- Many classified employees are non-exempt employees who are paid for all hours worked. For this reason, a classified employee, such as a Teacher Assistant, etc, must keep accurate records of time worked for purposes of submitting a correct and complete time sheet. An 8-hour day is considered a 100% schedule. If a classified employee is required to supervise students during lunch, that lunch period is considered work time and the employee is paid for that time.
If the school personnel vote for a duty-free lunch period, the classified employees are not expected to supervise students and the lunch period becomes an unpaid meal period, and the work day then becomes 7am-3:30pm, for example.
Certified employees are exempt employees under wage and hour law. It is recognized that teachers and other certified employees often perform work outisde the normally assigned shift. It is not unusual for certified employees to prepare for class, conduct meetings, grade student work, phone parents, or perform other necessary duties outside the traditional workday. This additional work outside the normal workday more than compensates for the 30 minutes referenced in the question.
