Academic Hourly Equal Pay

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Fall 2007 Semester

Hourly instructors, and contract instructors working overload, receive equal paychecks every month for each of their teaching assignments. They do not complete time cards. The number of EQUAL payments they receive is determined by the number of months of their teaching assignments. Equal pay for each assignment is calculated individually.

Examples (please refer to schedule of pay dates):

• 18 week classes will receive 5 equal paychecks.
• First 9 week session classes will receive 3 paychecks.
• Second 9 week session classes will receive 3 paychecks, etc.

Hourly substitute, hourly counseling and hourly librarian work is not included in the equal pay process. If you work in one of these hourly assignments, you must process a time card to be paid.

I. To calculate how and when you will be paid, just follow the four steps below.

1. Multiply the hours you are assigned each week by the weeks duration of your assignment. If any of your classes are NOT 18 weeks in duration, you need to perform a separate calculation for each class. You may find overlapping monthly payments for classes of less than 18 weeks duration. Example: 2 nine week classes taught "back to back" (August - October and October - December) will receive two payments on one check for October work. This means that the October paycheck (issued in November) will be larger than the other checks for the semester. This step calculates the "total number of hours" you will teach during the semester.

2. If you multiply the "total hours" found in STEP 1 by your hourly pay rate, you will find the "total dollar value" you will be paid for your teaching assignment.

3. Now find the number of months that your class spans. This will tell you how many checks you will receive. Refer to the Schedule of Pay Issue Dates. Example: If your class meets August through December, this spans five months and you will receive five equal paychecks over the semester for your class.

4. If you divide the "total dollar value" found in STEP 2 above by the number of months in STEP 3, you will find the “monthly equal pay amount” that you can expect to be paid in each of your paychecks over the semester.

a. Typical assignment: assignment is 3 hours per week with a pay rate of $30.00 per hour and meets for 18 weeks.

b. 3 hours per week X 18 weeks = 54 total hours for the assignment (STEP 1).

c. 54 total hours X $30.00 per hour = $1620.00 total pay due for the entire semester's assignment (STEP 2).

d. You will receive five (5) equal paychecks during the semester. The first paycheck will be issued as listed below. (refer to Pay date chart below to complete STEP 3).

e. $1620.00 divided by five (5) pay periods = $324.00 per check for 5 pay periods (STEP 4). Total of 54 hours divided by 5 months would equal 10.8 hours for each pay period.

1. Your absences (for any reason such as sick leave, personal necessity etc.) must be reported to your Department Timekeeper. You must report all absences as per your department timekeeping procedures. When you are absent for any reason, report it to your department secretary to be entered into the Time and Attendance Reporting System (TARS). Any absence should be reported in hours and submitted to your timekeeper within the month that the absence occurred.

2. You accrue sick leave at the rate of 1 hour of sick leave for every 18 hours of paid work per month (except for substitute work). Your sick leave balance will appear in hours on your check stub under the heading: SK. LV. H/D. Your balance is updated each paycheck for the hours you have accrued or reported absent during the prior month.

1. Taxes - Your federal and state tax withholding will be based on the W-4 exemption card you have on file in the payroll office. You may submit a new W-4 to Payroll at any time. We will honor the new card on the next available payroll processing period.

2. Retirement deductions - Depending on your retirement status, you may have deductions for a retirement system on your paycheck. If you are an hourly member of STRS (California State Teachers' Retirement System), all your hourly earnings will be subject to this 8% STRS contribution. You MUST notify each District where you teach of your STRS membership. If you fail to notify us, and STRS finds out in their yearly audits, STRS will demand payment of all past due contributions on your next paycheck. This may result in a financial hardship for you.

If you are a full-time contract member with LBCC or another District and pay full STRS contributions on your contract assignment, your hourly earnings at LBCC will, in most cases, also be subject to STRS contributions. You must notify us if you are a full-time member of STRS at another District so we take the correct contributions. Failure to notify us may result in a financial hardship if we must make an adjustment.

If you are not a member of STRS, you must join the LBCC Alternative Retirement System, ARS, called APPLE. The APPLE/ARS System requires a 7.5% deduction from your paychecks. You will see this deduction on your check stub under the listing ALT PL ACA, under miscellaneous deductions. This contribution is invested in a retirement account in your name and earns interest. A complete informational packet on the APPLE/ARS program is available from the Human Resources Office at LAC.

We hope the explanation above will assist you in calculating the pay due you for your LBCC Equal Pay hourly teaching assignments. Please review your assignment information and perform the above calculations to verify your expected pay. If you still have questions, please contact the Payroll Department at the numbers below:

Academic Payroll: (562) 938-4463

Payroll Manager: Joan Carr (562) 938-4465

We normally pay on the 10th of the month. If the 10th falls on a weekend or a holiday, we will issue paychecks on the working day before the weekend or the holiday. Refer to the Payroll Schedule for exact scheduled hourly/Equal Pay pay dates.