Can My Principal Call Mandatory Meetings?

 

As with many issues, some DACE administrators do not accept the following position and will deny its validity.  This does not constitute legal advice but is the sole opinion of the AOEC Chair.  However, the Chair’s opinion is informed by research and specific discussion with and research by one of UTLA’s lawyers.

 

We frequently receive questions about administrators and coordinators holding meetings and telling teachers they must attend.

 

K-12 teachers are salaried employees.  Individuals who receive an annual salary can be required to perform a number of duties outside their normal work hours.  Examples include parent meetings, back to school night, supervision duties at student dances and sports events, and faculty meetings after school.

 

However, adult education teachers are not salaried.  We are hourly wage employees with very specific assigned hours.  The district takes advantage of our wage status in myriad ways, including our unpaid breaks and our unpaid status between classes.  Ten minutes here, a half hour there – it usually adds up to a full-time teacher being at work for seven to eight hours a day, but being paid for only six or six and one-half hours.

 

The other side of this coin is that the employer cannot require hourly wage employees to perform any work “off the clock.”  Faculty meetings, meetings with administrators, accreditation meetings, et al. – if they are not held during your regularly assigned hours, you cannot be required to attend.  However, if the meeting is held during your assigned hours, then you must attend if so directed.  Time on the clock belongs to the employer, and you must follow any directive that is not contradicted by law or ethics.  Time outside of your scheduled hours belong to you, not the employer.  They cannot require you to attend anything outside of your regularly assigned hours.

 

In the interest of supporting well-functioning schools, we encourage teachers to be flexible and cooperative when the employer offers to pay you for meeting attendance.  However, even when the employer offers to pay for your attendance, it is still your option as to whether you attend.  You may well have another job, classes to attend, child care responsibilities, or just personal business to attend to.  If it’s not scheduled time that you have contractually agreed to, it’s your time to do as you wish.

 

If your administrator is not respecting your rights when you are off the clock, contact a committee officer for assistance.