STEPHEN P. POSTALAKIS Blaugrund, Herbert, Kessler, Miller, Myers

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STEPHEN P. POSTALAKISBlaugrund, Herbert,
Kessler, Miller, Myers Postalakis,
Incorporated spp_at_bhmlaw.comOhio Association
of County Boards Serving People with
Developmental DisabilitiesPersonnel
CouncilSeptember 29, 2010

• Calculating Overtime Pay

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First Step Determine the Base Rate of Pay

• What is the base rate of pay?
• Hourly rate, plus
• On-call pay
• Non-discretionary bonuses
• Retroactive wage increases
• Shift differential and
• Longevity pay.

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On-call pay

• Things to remember
• On-call pay is included in determining the
  employees base rate of pay.
• Hours spent on-call are not necessarily hours
  worked when determining whether the employee
  worked in excess of 40 hours in a work week.

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Non-discretionary bonuses

• Examples
• Bonuses for educational attainment
• Bonuses for attendance, production and
• Holiday bonuses that are so regular that
  employees expect them.

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Items excluded from calculations of the base rate
of pay

• Discretionary bonuses.
• Sick leave buyback.
• Featsent v. City of Youngstown, 70 F.3d 900 (6th
  Cir. 1995) (Sick leave buyback excluded from
  calculation of base rate of pay).
• Payments made for occasional periods where no
  work is performed.

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Discretionary Bonuses

• Amounts paid in recognition of service if BOTH
• The fact of the payment, AND
• The amount of the payment
• are determined in the sole discretion of the
  employer, AND
• The bonus is not paid pursuant to any prior
  promise, agreement, or contract causing the
  employee to expect the bonus.

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Payments made for occasional periods where no
work is performed

• Holidays, vacation, illness, or unavailability of
  work.
• Holiday pay and regular pay, paid for the same
  day the employees base rate of pay is not
  double.

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What if the add-on applies to past work weeks?

• This often occurs when one of the add-ons is paid
  less frequently, but applies to a longer period
  of time, i.e. a quarterly bonus.
• Disregard the bonus until the workweek in which
  it is paid.
• When the bonus is paid, calculate any catch-up
  payment owed for the period covered by the bonus.

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Example Stephanie Postal

• Stephanie Postal gets a 500 bonus each quarter.
  The bonus is included in her pay for the last
  week of the quarter.
• Stephanies normal pay rate is 10.00/hour.
• In week 4 of the 12 week quarter, Stephanie
  worked 50 hours. In her pay for week 4, she was
  paid overtime at the rate of 15 for the 10
  overtime hours. In every other week, Stephanie
  worked 40 hours.
• The 500 bonus was included in Stephanies pay
  for week 12 of the quarter.

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Example Stephanie Postal

• Stephanies adjusted base rate of pay for the
  quarter is
• Her base rate of 10.00/hour, PLUS
• An additional 1.02/hour.
• She actually worked 490 hours (11 weeks at 40
  hours and one week at 50 hours).
• Taking the total amount paid (5,400) divided by
  the total hours worked (490) results in a base
  rate of 11.02 per hour.

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Example Stephanie Postal

• Although her employer paid time and one-half for
  the ten hours overtime Stephanie worked in week
  4, it only paid time and one-half on the 10.00
  base rate (15/hour), not her adjusted base rate
  of 11.02 (16.53.hour)
• The employer must include an additional 15.30 in
  her check for week 12 (1.53 X 10 hours overtime).