FAQ: Staffing & Compensation Packages

Can staff members volunteer for the library?

The shortest answer is No. It is not legal for an employee to volunteer work for an organization, regardless of their willingness to do so. If an employer finds out that an employee is working off-the–clock for free, it is their responsibility to pay the employee and forbid the practice. Legally, the employee cannot waive their right to be paid. 

There is one very narrow exception for nonprofit organizations. Employees of nonprofit organizations can volunteer to do work that is not the same work for which they are employed. That means that a circulation worker could volunteer to help with a fundraiser should they desire, without requiring pay. This is a grey area and it is wise to practice extreme caution. For example:

• An employee cannot be required to volunteer – if it is a requirement to do so, it is a function of the employment and is not permitted to be unpaid, even if the duties are substantially different from their normal work.
• The employee’s work must be substantially different from that which they are paid to do. This is not limited to what is in the job description. Though a job description is a helpful guide, the law is more concerned with actual job duties.. If the employee is regularly asked to do the work, even if it is not in the official job description, that is work that they are paid to do and cannot volunteer for. (Example: if employees regularly accept and sort donated books, then they cannot volunteer to set the annual book sale, because the tasks are too similar.)
• If volunteering, an employee cannot be disciplined as if they are an employee. Examples: volunteer work cannot be brought up in evaluations (either positively or negatively); attendance at volunteer events cannot be held against them; and they fall under any volunteer policies and not employee policies as regards items like dress code. (Note: it is wise to address issues that may affect employees as volunteers in any volunteer policies.)

What are the minimum legal salary requirements?

• Minimum Wage: All employees must be paid minimum wage, currently $7.25/hour. You are able to pay either on an hourly or salary basis. If you elect to pay on a salary basis, and the employee is not able to be exempt from overtime, you must ensure that the actual hours worked during the pay period does not drop the employee below minimum wage. (For example, if a staff member is paid a $250/week salary and expected to work 20 hours a week, but is asked to work 35 hours in a pay period, their salary has dropped below minimum wage and they must have their compensation raised appropriately.)
• Overtime-exempt requirements: To be exempt from overtime, there are two primary tests that each employee must pass. They must also be classified as exempt internally, as meeting the tests does not automatically confer exempt status.
  The two tests are the Salary basis test and the duties test. The Salary test is simple: employees must be paid on a salary basis a minimum of $684/week ($35,568 annually).  The duties test means that the employee must perform certain duties – typically, these must be management at minimum. Read the Dept. of Labor’s fact sheet for specifics; most smaller library directors will qualify for exempt status under the “Administrative” duties test.
• IRS reasonable salary requirements: 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations are required to be able to prove that the salaries they offer are reasonable and “not excessive”. Though typically this is not a problem with libraries, it is a good idea to conduct a salary study periodically for those in similar positions in your region. Your district consultant can help you find reports from the annual report data submitted to meet this requirement. This report will also help you identify if your salary is excessively low for your region, which would harm your recruiting efforts.

Do I have to pay overtime wages?

Yes. The only exception for paying overtime wages is for an employee that qualifies for and is classified as salaried-exempt. Overtime wages are required to be at 1.5 the hourly rate for any hour worked over 4o hours/work week. You are not allowed to “pay” overtime in any other measure than wages – see our Flex/Comp time FAQ for more details. As discussed earlier, employees cannot waive overtime pay or volunteer hours over 40/week.

Employers should consider the following if they wish to avoid overtime wages:

• Work Week: Many organizations follow a Monday-Sunday work week, but your organization may work better if your work week is defined as Saturday-Friday or Sunday-Saturday. Determine where the most risk of overtime is and consider if adjusting the workweek could alleviate some of the pressure.
• Typical work hours: if you have employees scheduled to work 40 hours a week, there is zero wiggle room should an emergency arise. Many employers use a 35 or 37.5 hour work week to qualify as full time. (Note: Pennsylvania library standards require that full-time be calculated at a rate of at least 35 hours per week.)
• Business travel: If the staff member has to travel (even locally, like to weekly branch staff meetings) be sure to review the laws as to what counts as compensable time for business travel (see our FAQ).

Is your compensation package attractive enough?

Funding does have constraints on what nonprofits are able to pay, but your employees still deserve fair compensation for their work. For many people, compensation is more than just salary. What other parts of the compensation package are you neglecting? Some common elements to examine:

• Is the salary a livable wage? The United Way has developed ALICE data specific to county that gives minimum for survival and sustainable household incomes (https://www.unitedforalice.org/wage-tool) that can help you get localized information.
• Alternative benefits – health insurance, 401K, short-term disability insurance, life insurance, wellness programs. Are there local businesses willing to work with you for employee discounts?
• Work environment – How flexible can the schedule be? Is remote work available, and what parameters make that successful? 
• Paid time off – How much Paid Time Off is available? What is the structure – are sick and vacation days treated differently?
• Professional Growth – are you able to provide professional development? Consider workshops, conferences, tuition reimbursement, and other growth opportunities, not just a path of promotional titles.
• Job Description – are you offering appropriate compensation for the job duties you require? Are the job duties reasonable for the hours of work? Does the job description match the actual work?

What are some common pitfalls to consider when offering benefits?

• All benefits should be available to all employees of the same classification. It is permissible to differentiate based on classification; commonly, part-time and full-time employees get dissimilar benefits, or upper management tiers have additional benefits available to them.
  All of these differentiations should be clearly laid out in policy and determined before any benefits are offered, to avoid inadvertently discriminating against someone of a protected class. Be sure to consult an employment attorney or benefit expert to ensure that the way you classify employees follows all laws and regulations, especially for health insurance. 
• In nonprofit organizations, it is common for board members to want to give something personal to staff members. Exercise extreme caution when doing this! It is perfectly fine for the board as a body to offer every employee a holiday bonus; the landscape changes drastically if it is one board member offering a specific employee a benefit. Commonly suggested things include things like time shares or the use of a vacation home. Firstly, the board member is not shielded from liability for this type of compensation, as it is not a board action. Secondly, there are income tax considerations that must be reported – use of a vacation home, for example, must be reported as income for the employee (and taxed accordingly) at the fair market value.
  Benefits offered to a single employee also bring up conflict of interest considerations, even if the employee is the director; this is particularly at risk if the benefit is offered by a lone board member instead of by the body as a whole.