The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires state and local government
agencies to compensate eligible employees for overtime hours worked.
The FLSA allows the use of compensatory time off in place of overtime
pay. In September 1985, Durham Tech adopted a plan for full-time and
continuing part-time non-faculty employees which utilizes a compensatory
time off approach.
The FLSA requires employers to define who is eligible for compensatory
time off for overtime hours worked. The law establishes criteria for
identifying exempt and nonexempt employees. Executive, administrative,
professional, and outside sales personnel fall into the exempt category.
According to the FLSA, exempt employees do
not qualify for compensatory time off. However, the Durham Tech
plan allows exempt employees to qualify for compensatory time off if
they can document a consistent pattern of having worked in excess of
45 hours per week for a number of consecutive weeks. If this pattern
is approved, documented, and verified by the supervisor, then those
hours in excess of the 45 hours per week would be eligible for compensatory
time off on an hour-for-hour basis. This approval should be granted
only under extraordinary or highly exceptional circumstances.
Full-time and continuing part-time faculty members are exempt employees.
To qualify for compensatory time, faculty members must document a consistent
pattern of having worked in excess of 45 hours per week for a number
of consecutive weeks on projects that are approved and verified by their
Program Director and Department Dean. In such cases, compensatory time
in excess of 45 hours per week can be awarded on an hour-for-hour basis.
If there is a need for a continuing part-time employee to work more
than the regular weekly contracted hours (up to a maximum of 40 hours
per week) and appropriate prior approval is received, then that employee
will be paid for the excess hours at the normal rate of pay.
All employees who are not classified as exempt personnel are considered
nonexempt employees. Nonexempt employees
qualify for compensatory time off under the FLSA.
A list of exempt and nonexempt employees is available in the Human
Resources Office.
Durham Tech's nonexempt employees
are eligible for compensatory time off as outlined in the plan below.
- A 7-day, 40-hour work period is used as the basis for calculating
overtime hours.
- Compensatory time off accrues at the rate of one and one-half hour
for each hour worked in excess of the 40-hour work period.
- Employees may accrue overtime hours up to a maximum of 120 hours,
which represents 80 hours of overtime actually worked at the one and
one-half hour rate.
- No employee will be allowed to exceed the 120-hour limit on accrued
overtime hours.
- Immediate supervisors should prepare a work schedule for each nonexempt
employee that limits the employee's work hours to no more than 40
hours per week. The appropriate Division Head must approve in
advance any hours to be worked beyond the scheduled 40 hours.
- If the hours scheduled exceed 40 hours, the immediate supervisor
and employee should plan when the compensatory time off will be taken
prior to the accrual of the overtime hours.
Use of compensatory time off should not "unduly disrupt"
the operations of the college. The
Employee Leave Request and Leave Report should be used for preapproval
of compensatory time off.
- The immediate supervisor and the employee are responsible for using
time cards to keep a record of all overtime hours worked and compensatory
time off used. The Employee Leave Request and Leave Report form should
be completed and submitted to the Business Office with each payroll
transmittal.
- Use of compensatory time off should occur within a reasonable period
of time. All compensatory time off must be used
within the same semester in which the overtime hours are accrued.
Exceptions must be approved by the Division Head and the President.
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