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Ask Elsie -- January 17, 2019
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ask Elsie is a column where Chief Financial Officer Elsie Schiro tackles employee queries, or in areas outside her purview, asks other District leaders to answer them.
Dear Elsie,
I’m at teacher assistant. We are allowed two 15-minute breaks throughout the day and a 45-minute lunch. Can we take one of the breaks with our lunch making it an hour? Do I get to decide what time I want to take a 15-minute break throughout my workday?
Thanks!
Confused TA
Dear Confused TA,
Thank you for your question. I reached out to Max Ates, senior officer of payroll, benefits and risk management, regarding your question and here’s the response: “Each full-time FWISD employee is required to work eight hours per day. On the Texas Workforce Commission website (https://twc.texas.gov/news/efte/flsa_does_and_doesnt_do.html), you may view the following: ‘The FLSA does not require:
Optional employee benefits and payroll practices not required under any law - this category includes such things as:
1. Breaks - although some states require breaks, Texas and most other states do not - federal law has no break requirement, other than OSHA rules about restroom breaks for sanitation purposes (see https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_id=22932&p_table=INTERPRETATIONS) - the only exceptions are found in special regulations relating to highly hazardous occupations such as high-altitude steel erection workers or nuclear plant workers - most companies do allow some sort of breaks, however, in their policies.
a. Breast-pumping / nursing breaks - these are unpaid breaks - under the 2010 health care reform bill, new FLSA section 207(r)(1) requires employers to give non-exempt nursing mothers reasonable break times to express breast milk, or if children are allowed in the office, nurse their infants, during the first year after the baby's birth (for more information, see "Nursing Mothers" in this outline).
b. "Coffee breaks" (rest breaks) are paid, since they are regarded as promoting productivity and efficiency on the part of employees and thus benefit the employer - 20 minutes or less in duration.
c. "Smoking breaks" - smoking breaks are not required under Texas or federal law, are in the same category as rest breaks (see above), and may be controlled in any way with appropriate policies.
d. "Lunch breaks" are unpaid - defined as 30 minutes or longer for the purpose of eating a meal - employee must be "fully relieved of duties" during the meal break - if employee is answering phones, filing, or otherwise working while eating, the "break" is counted as regular work time.
2. Premium, holiday, and weekend pay - this is extra pay for unusual hours, such as "double time" or "triple time" pay for working extra overtime or during times when most employees take off - this is not required under any law, but is often a matter of supply and demand, i.e., whatever is necessary to get employees to be available at unusual times.
3. Shift differentials - defined as higher hourly pay for second or third shifts, as opposed to the normal hourly rate given to workers on the daytime shift - as with "premium pay" above, this is a function of supply and demand.
4. Raises - not required under state or federal laws, unless the minimum wage is increased on either the federal or the state level. However, even though raises are not required, withdrawing a raise that has previously been promised could give an employee good cause to quit. Important: once a raise goes into effect, the employer must pay it until it is withdrawn - it may be withdrawn only prospectively, never retroactively - a retroactive pay cut will always violate the law.
5. Pensions - pension or retirement plans are not required - however, keep the "1000-hour rule" in mind in case you have a pension plan and any workers who work at least 1000 hours in a 12-month period.’
FWISD Regulation states: All employees are expected to work an eight-hour day.
Nonexempt full-time employees will work a minimum workday of eight hours; 40 hours per week. Nonexempt employees at the administration and satellite offices have a set work schedule of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a one-hour lunch period, thereby completing an eight-hour workday. The lunch period is not work time and is not paid. Some nonexempt employees at the campuses to include: teacher assistants, secretaries, clerks, campus monitors, library support technicians, deaf interpreters, cafeteria managers and substitutes that work in these positions will work an eight-hour day, scheduled by school, to include a 30-minute paid lunch period. Because most nonexempt employees at campuses are “on-call” during lunch periods, the employees working while schools are in session will be compensated for their lunch periods. All employees are paid based on a 40-hour week. Therefore, employees must physically work 40 hours before they are eligible for any additional pay.
Two 15-minute breaks are allowable if time permits during the day. Breaks are NOT required under FLSA. Employees cannot leave early in lieu of taking breaks. Also, breaks cannot be adjacent to lunch breaks to create a longer lunch break; there must be coverage for all positions at all time.”
Thanks again for your question Confused TA and thank you Mr. Ates for your response.
Elsie
Dear Elsie,
What is the district's philosophy on academic dishonesty? In my past, I've not allowed students to redo an assignment when they were caught cheating. There is nothing in the grading guidelines saying that is allowed or not allowed. Shouldn't students have consequences if they decide to be dishonest? I have students who get caught looking on someone else's paper and respond with "Oh well, I'll just retest later." What is everyone's thoughts about high schoolers and academic dishonesty?
Amanda Briggs
Dear Ms. Briggs,
Thank you for your question. I reached out to Dr. Raul Peña, FWISD’s chief of elementary schools, Cherie Washington, chief of secondary schools, and Charles Carroll, chief academic officer, your question and here’s the response: “ Board Policy EIA (LOCAL) states: ‘A student found to have engaged in academic dishonesty shall be subject to grade penalties on assignments or tests and disciplinary penalties in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct.’ Academic dishonesty includes cheating, plagiarism, and unauthorized communication between students during an examination. The determination that a student has engaged in academic dishonesty shall be based on the judgment of the classroom teacher or another supervising professional employee, taking into consideration written materials, observation, or information from students.”
Thanks again for your question Ms. Briggs, and Dr. Peña, Mrs. Washington and Mr. Carroll for your response.
Elsie
Direct your questions to Inside@fwisd.org and put the words "Ask Elsie" in the subject line. Please close your letter with your preferred signature as you wish it to appear in the column. When there are multiple queries on the same subject, we will select the one that is most representative of the subject. We will try to answer as many questions as possible.
Please bear with us as we have a backlog of Ask Elsie questions and are responding to questions as soon as we can.