January 1st 2020 brought some major changes in California employment laws and regulations. Now all management employees earning less than $55,000 a year are to be paid overtime (time and a half) for every minute over 8 hours that they work in a day. Along with the increase in minimum wage, this is going to have a significant financial impact upon the Club. We try to maximize staff time for when members are at the Club, and therefore our staff finish work when the Club closes – 6pm at Bijou and 6.30pm at main site. When parents are late it greatly impacts the staff who have to stay to supervise the member and ensure that they are picked up safely. And from January 1st, we will also have to pay that staff overtime.
To offset these significant costs and to encourage parents to be on time, we have made the difficult decision to start charging a late pick-up fee. This is standard at other organizations but we have not made the decision lightly. The costs will be as follows: $5 for the first 15 minutes you are late and $1 per minute after that.
So if you pick your child up from main-site between 6.30 and 6.45 (or Bijou between 6 and 6.15pm) you will be charged a $5 late fee and then $1 a minute after 15 minutes. So if you pick-up your child at 7pm from the main site, you will incur a $20 fee.
We also kindly ask that if you are picking up at closing time, please be mindful of staff time. Close means that all parents should have left the building at 6.30pm, not that that is when parents should arrive. Our staff also have families to get home to and therefore a punctual pick-up and departure is much appreciated.
If a parent doesn’t arrive by close to pick-up their child, and they haven’t called us in advance to let us know that they will be late, we will wait for the 5 minute grace period and then start calling the persons on the member’s authorized pick up list, starting with immediate family members first. If the primary parent/guardian can’t be reached within 30 minutes, and no call has been placed to the Club letting us know you are coming, then we ask someone else on the list to come and pick-up the member. If an hour passes with no contact and no pick up, we will at that time call the Police. Under CA Law, it is technically abandonment to fail to pick up a child when a facility has closed, and therefore we will ask the help of the Police to locate a family member or to do a house check to ensure that it is simply an oversight and not something more serious. These steps are all for the welfare and safety of the member and we actively encourage open communication with the Club. If you know you are going to be late, let us know in advance so that we can accommodate you and reassure the member that all is well.
Thank you for your understanding and adherence to these changes in procedure. if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Jude or Ashley on 530 542 0838.
I would also like to take this moment to let you know of another change and to congratulate Ashley Hall on her promotion to Club Director. Jude Wood remains the CEO, but as her time is increasingly taken up with the new building campaign, Ashley will oversee both after-school programs and be responsible for the day to day running of Club matters. Ashley is a BGC alumni and has worked at the Club for over 6 years. Starting as a part time program leader, Ashley has worked her way up through the Club making positive changes each step of the way, and we are excited for even more as she steps into her new role.
Thank you for your understanding our we roll out these changes and we wish you a prosperous and successful start to the new year.
