Mar 14, 2025  
Employee Handbook 
    
Employee Handbook

Policy: 7.4 Definition, Classification, Pay, and Rest Periods


Relationship of Non-Exempt Employee to College  

Policy: 7.4 Definition, Classification, Pay, and Rest Periods

Adoption Date: November 5, 2018 Revised

A non-exempt employee is defined as a person employed by Howard College in a position which is subject to minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) as amended (see below).


CLASSIFICATION AND PAY

Staff personnel are classified according to a uniform plan and are paid according to a corresponding salary schedule.  Classification is made on the basis of duties and responsibilities. Positions with similar duties and responsibilities are grouped in the same class.  In accordance with the provisions of federal statutes, there is no discrimination in classification or pay and all non-exempt positions are assigned appropriate salaries that provide equal pay for equal work and responsibility.  A salary figure stated in monthly or yearly terms is not intended to create an employment contract for that period.

Full-time non-exempt employees whose regular schedule requires less than 38 hours per week will be paid at the regular hourly rate through 38 hours.  Overtime pay will be calculated as defined below.

FLSA AND POLICY REGARDING OVERTIME PAY

Non‑exempt employees will be subject to the overtime provisions of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) as amended.  Non-exempt employees who are required to work in excess of 38 hours in a workweek are entitled to compensation for the excess hours.  The college defines the work week as that period beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday and extending through the seven‑day period ending at 11:59 p.m. the following Friday. Compensation for all authorized overtime in excess of 38 hours per week worked by eligible employees shall consist of overtime payment at the rate equal to one and one‑half times the employee’s regular rate of pay.

On occasions when the employee is required to work in excess of the regular daily working hours, it is permissible to adjust the remaining workweek so that 38 hours will not be exceeded in that workweek, if the arrangement is mutually agreeable between employee and supervisor.

Regularly scheduled college holidays will be counted as hours worked in the calculation of the number of hours in a workweek.  However, the hours will not be counted towards overtime hours.

No FLSA non‑exempt employee will be permitted to work overtime without prior approval of the supervisor.  The amount of authorized overtime should be limited to that which is absolutely necessary.  Employees who are determined to be FLSA “exempt” are consequently exempt from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

FLSA non-exempt employees required to travel to another city for work assignments will report time spent in travel as working time.

CALL-OUT COMPENSATION

Non-exempt employees may be called out unexpectedly to respond to emergency situations that may arise.  Non-exempt employees should record the actual time worked in the online time keeping system.  In addition, non-exempt employees may record one extra hour work time credit for each call-out occurrence.  The extra hour credit for an unexpected call-out should be recorded separately and should be labeled “Call-Out Credit.”

REST PERIODS

Each supervisor may allow employees one rest period during each half of the work shift, to be taken as work allows subject to the following provisions:

  1. No single rest period may exceed more than fifteen (15) minutes absence from the staff employee’s workstation.
  2. Staff personnel may not accumulate rest periods.
  3. Rest period time may not be used for late arrival or early departure from duty.