University Response to Employment Law Changes Employee ...

University Response to Employment Law Changes

Employee Frequently Asked Questions

WHY & WHO 1. Why am I being converted to hourly-paid? 2. What is the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)? 3. Who is effected by this change? 4. Why is the conversion taking effect in September?

CHANGES I CAN EXPECT 5. What will the change be for me as one of the impacted employees? 6. Will my pay rate change? 7. When will these changes happen and what can I expect? 8. How is my hourly rate determined? 9. How is overtime calculated? 10. What impact will the change from being paid salaried to hourly (overtime eligible) have on my benefits? 11. Can I opt out of this change (or can supervisors opt an employee out of this change) if I want to continue to be considered a salaried employee? 12. How can I prepare?

DEDUCTIONS 13. What impact will a change to the hourly (overtime eligible) pay schedule have on my paycheck deductions?

TRANSITION PAYMENT 14. Why am I getting a transitional payment? 15. How is the transitional payment amount determined?

WORKING ON AN HOURLY PAY CYCLE 16. Can I check emails and voice mails from home? 17. Can I maintain my flexible work schedule? 18. Can I still attend professional conferences?

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FACULTY AND PART-TIME EMPLOYEES 19. I'm currently a part-time employee. Does this change affect me or my part-time status? 20. For faculty whose primary duty is not teaching or who are not physicians, does being paid hourly mean that faculty member will be considered staff instead of faculty?

RECORDING MY TIME 21. How do I record my time? 22. Our department does not have a badge reader. How will time be recorded?

WHY & WHO

1. Why am I being converted to hourly-paid?

Over the past several years, we've seen the federal government and New York State strengthen regulations to ensure workers are adequately compensated for both the level of responsibility of their job and the time worked to fulfill it. The net result of such changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and other legislation is that more employees are eligible for overtime pay. University leadership expects similar changes to be applied to larger groups of employees in the future.

As a result, the University is adopting a more proactive approach to address the anticipated evolution of these laws and ease the disruption such transitions cause our University workforce each year.

2. What is the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)?

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a federal statute, passed in 1938, that introduced minimum wages and overtime pay, and created criteria for determining whether an employee is "exempt" from overtime pay requirements or is entitled to overtime pay. Both the FLSA and state law provide that overtime pay is 1.5 times an employee's regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours in a work week.

3. Who is effected by this change?

Approximately 1,000 salaried employees in Professional, Administrative, and Supervisory (PAS) grades 50-52 will be converted to hourly-paid effective September 29, 2019.

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Effective August 1, 2019, new hires, rehires, transfers, or promotions who receive offers in Pay Grades 50-52, or under $46,020 annually ($885/week), will be processed as hourly-paid.

Another small group of salaried employees outside of grades 50-52 will be converted at the same time (September 29, 2019) because of an increase in the NYS salary threshold.

4. Why is the conversion taking effect in September? The University decided to implement this change on September 29, 2019, to minimize the impact on employees:

? As indicated above, the transition from a salary to hourly pay schedule results in some days that have historically been paid in a salaried paycheck now being paid on an hourly paycheck schedule, which is paid on a slight delay to allow for processing. The September 29, 2019 date was least impactful because it resulted in the fewest number of work days that will be transitioned from a salaried check to an hourly check.

? Implementing the change in the fall also allows employees some time to adjust to the new pay cycle prior to the holidays.

CHANGES I CAN EXPECT

5. What will the change be for me as one of the impacted employees? The biggest change is that you will be paid on an hourly basis on the biweekly hourly pay cycle. Effective September 29, you will need to begin recording all hours worked and non-work time (e.g. vacation, jury duty, bereavement, etc.) in HRMS. You will also be eligible for overtime pay (1.5 times your hourly rate) for all time worked beyond 40 hours in a work week.

6. Will my pay rate change? No, your pay rate will not change as a result of the legislation changes; annual pay will simply be converted to an hourly rate. You will be paid based on your hours worked and any other paid time such as holiday time; you will also now be eligible for overtime pay.

7. When will these changes happen and what can I expect?

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As a salaried employee, you are paid either 12 or 24 times per calendar year, depending on if you are monthly or semi-monthly; you receive your pay on the pay period end date.

As an hourly employee, you will be paid 26 times per calendar year. The pay will be received 6 days after the pay period end date to allow for the pay amount to be calculated based on the time recorded.

Your final salaried paycheck will be received on September 30, 2019 for work through September 28, 2019. Your first hourly pay period will be September 29 ? October 12, 2019 and you will receive your first hourly paycheck on October 18.

When employees move to a bi-weekly pay schedule, there is a necessary delay between the last day of the pay period and the employee's next paycheck to allow for pay to be calculated based on the time reported.

To ease the financial impact felt during this transition to a different pay cycle, the University is providing you with a one-time payment on October 4, 2019. This transitional payment does not have to be paid back and will approximate the short-term change in take home pay felt based on the timing of the new pay period.

Here is a summary of what is happening when:

? Employees will receive their final paycheck as a salaried employee on September 30. This check will include work through September 28.

? On September 29, employees will begin recording you're their worked.

? A transitional payment (described in #14-15) will be paid on October 4.

? Employees will receive their first biweekly pay check on October 18.

8. How is my hourly rate determined?

In most cases, your regular hourly rate will be determined by dividing your current annual salary by your current annual standard hours. If your standard workweek is 40 hours, that is the equivalent of 2080 hours in a year (40 hours/week x 52 weeks). So, if your annual salary is $45,000 and you have a standard of 40 hours per week, your hourly rate is $21.63 ($45,000 divided by 2080). If you work in excess of 40 hours in a week, then you will receive overtime pay of 1.5 times the regular hourly rate. The overtime rate in this example would be $32.45 per hour.

However, if when exempt, you also received components of pay which were added to your base salary to account for working off-shifts or being on-call or other such

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examples, those premiums will be backed out to establish a base hourly rate. University policies will now apply for Shift Differential, On-Call Pay, and Call-In Pay. See University Policies.

9. How is overtime calculated?

Overtime is paid at a rate of 1.5 times your regular hourly rate of pay for all time worked over 40 hours in the work week. The computation of "time worked" does not include paid time out of the workplace (e.g., sick leave, vacation time, etc.). For more details, see University Policy #223.

10. What impact will the change from being paid salaried to hourly (overtime eligible) have on my benefits?

Your benefits eligibility will not be impacted by this change as your paygrade and job classification remains the same. For any questions regarding benefits, see the benefit summary documents or contact Ask URHR via email at ask-urhr@UR.Rochester.edu or call at 585-275-8747.

11. Can I opt out of this change (or can supervisors opt an employee out of this change) if I want to continue to be considered a salaried employee?

No, there is not an exception/appeal process.

12. How can I prepare? ? Print a copy of the biweekly pay cycle calendar for your reference. ? Review Policy 413 on Time Management. ? Review the resources provided on the Proactive Path and HR Compliance webpages. ? Make changes to any automatic payments you have set up for personal bills so that you have adequate funds available in your bank account when you are switched to a biweekly pay cycle. ? Check your retirement, direct deposit, and tax withholding deductions and determine if you want to adjust them based on the new biweekly pay cycle. Since you will be paid more frequently, but less each pay period, you may opt to adjust your pay allocations. ? Talk to your supervisor or if you are concerned or have questions.

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