KLEA has been receiving numerous questions regarding the new changes to the “Hours Worked” provision of the MOU. Effective 1/11/2025, new changes will control how paid leave and holidays will affect overtime earnings.

Article IV – Premium Pay; Section 1(B) – Overtime Policy reads as follows:

Hours Worked – Holidays and all paid leave time, including, but not limited to, Sick Leave, Vacation, Compensatory Time-Off, and Jury Duty will count as hours worked for the purpose of computing overtime. Effective January 11, 2025, holidays and all paid leave time will not count as hours worked for purpose of computing overtime. (Emphasis added)

In understanding how this section will affect your ability to earn overtime during any given pay period, you must understand various other sections of the MOU.

Article VIII – Working Conditions; Section2 – Work Week reads as follows:

Regular employees (excluding Detentions Bureau employees) within a specific section, unit, division, or department may work a modified week of less than five (5) days, but not less than forty (40) hours per week, not including hours working on standby pursuant to Article IV, Section 5, subject to the Department Head’s discretion. For processing payroll each regular employee’s work week will be defined according to Kern County Ordinance Code 3.24.010 (L).

Detentions Bureau employees will be subject to a work period of up to 84 hours during a 14-day period, as permitted by 29 USC § 207(k) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Employees will be paid straight time for up to 84 hours worked during a 14-day work period, and any hours exceeding 84 hours worked will be compensated as overtime hours. For payroll purposes, the 14-day work period shall begin at 7:00 a.m. on the Saturday following the commencement of the County’s established pay period and shall end 14 days later. (Emphasis added).

Kern County Ordinance Code 3.24.010 (L) provides:

“Workweek” means a period of time commencing at 12:01 a.m. on any Saturday and ending at 12:00 midnight on the following Friday, except for employees on a 9/80 work schedule.

The preceding sections create two classification groups that are affected differently by the new overtime rules: (1)-Regular employees – all KLEA members excluding Detention Bureau employees and, (2)-Detention Bureau Employees.

All regular (non- Detention Bureau) employees work under the “Work Week” provision as defined by KC Ordinance 3.24.010(L) above. Essentially this means that during each pay period there are two work weeks that are treated independent of each other. Meaning, what happens in one workweek does not affect the other workweek.

Applying this to the new “Hours Worked” agreement, any time taken off during each workweek will no longer count as hours worked toward the 40-hour threshold required to begin earning overtime compensation. This means if you take 8 hours off during a workweek, any overtime you work in that same week will be compensated at regular straight time until you reach the 40-hour threshold. In this example, if you worked 12 additional hours during the same workweek and used 8 hours of paid leave, the first 8 hours of additional time would be paid at your regular rate, and the remaining 4 hours would be paid at the OT rate.

To complicate the understanding of this provision, if you work a schedule that includes hours spanning from Friday at 0000 past Saturday at 0001, the shift is split over the two separate workweeks. As an example, if your Friday Shift is from 2100 – 0700 the 2100 – 0000 portion falls within the first workweek and the remaining hours fall within the following workweek. In this case, if you were to take the Friday shift off as paid leave, both of your workweeks would be affected by the hours-worked provision. In this example, if you were to work 10 additional hours in each workweek, the first 3 hours in the first workweek would be paid at the regular straight time rate and the additional 7 hours would be paid at the OT rate. During the second workweek, the first 7 hours would be paid at the regular straight time rate, and the additional 3 hours would be paid at the OT rate.

In short, you must “actually” work 40 hours each workweek to begin earning the OT rate compensation during that same workweek. Any time taken off will not count towards this threshold and will cause additional time worked to be paid as regular straight time until the 40-hour threshold is met. This includes any holidays that you do not “actually” work even though you are compensated for them.

Detention Bureau employees have a much less complicated, yet more impactful application of the rules. Detentions are subject to a “work period” of up to 84 hours during a 14-day period. This means that your pay periods are not split between two work weeks and therefore, what happens in one week of the pay period will affect the other week of the pay period. Additionally, Detentions Bureau employees must reach an 84-hour threshold of hours “actually” worked before the OT rate will be paid. If a Detentions employee takes a 12 hour shift off during the pay period, they must “actually” work 12 additional hours during the same pay period to reach the 84-hour threshold. Any additional hours would be paid at the OT rate.

The only complication for Detentions Bureau employees is understanding the “work period” is defined as beginning at 0700 on the Saturday of the defined pay-period and ending 14 days later. If you take time off that spans the end of one work-period and the beginning of the next, those leave hours will impact both work periods causing a shortage of hours “actually” worked across both. This means that any OT worked in both work periods will have portions applied as regular straight time pay up until the 84-hour threshold is met for the entire work period.

There have been questions regarding exemptions to the “hours worked” rules. The MOU language does not provide for any exemptions. The OT rate will only apply once a member reaches the hourly thresholds as described above. This includes additional hours worked for callouts and extended hours, regardless of whether the member is provided the choice to work the hours.

KLEA recommends each member review the rules that apply to their assignment and determine if there are any strategical changes you may want to take when using paid leave to minimize impact on OT compensation. We will be monitoring the implementation of the new rules and request members to contact us with questions of how the rules are applied to individual situations.