Overtime Pay for Staff

Overtime Pay for Merit Staff

The College must approve a request for overtime for a Merit System staff member. If you anticipate the need to have merit staff member work additional hours, send your request electronically, with your DEO's endorsement for extra hours to be worked to Julie Rothbardt, Senior Director of CLAS Human Resources.

While it is unlikely that there will be many instances when overtime is necessary, you must be aware of the AFSCME contract relating to overtime compensation. The contract reads, "Overtime shall be compensated at a premium rate of time and one-half (1.5) the employee’s base hourly pay…”

Payment must be made in either cash or compensatory time as follows:

  • The decision to pay overtime in cash or compensatory time rests with the employee; however, the employer reserves the right to require employees to take cash payment rather than earned compensatory time.
  • Compensatory time can only be accumulated to one hundred twenty (120 hours). Any hours over one hundred twenty (120) will be paid in cash.
  • A request can be made by the employee for a payout in cash of any accumulated compensatory time. A two (2) week notice to the personnel office is required.
  • As a point of clarification, this agreement is interpreted as time-and-a-half pay or time-and-a-half compensatory time. If a merit staff member works one additional hour, he or she receives one-and-a-half times his or her rate of pay or one-and-a-half hours off in compensatory time.

Overtime Pay for Professional & Scientific Staff

P&S staff covered under the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) are eligible to earn and use compensatory time. Employees in these classifications are automatically covered under FLSA, and those in "split" classifications may be covered based on the specific duties and responsibilities of each position. Any employee who earns less than $23,660 annually ($455/week) is covered under FLSA.

Professional and Scientific staff members covered under FLSA may earn compensatory time for hours worked in excess of forty in any work week. The basic work week is defined as 168 consecutive hours running from the first shift beginning on or after 12:00 a.m. Sunday through the first shift beginning before 12:00 midnight the following Saturday. Only hours worked are used for the calculation of compensatory time. Adjustments for overtime and undertime are made on the Monthly Leave and Pay Adjustment Records or electronic data files submitted by departments.

The codes used to record compensatory time on the employee time record are:

  • 78—P&S Non-Exempt Holiday Compensatory Time Earned
  • 79—P&S Non-Exempt Compensatory Hours Used
  • 80—P&S Non-Exempt Compensatory Hours Paid

Compensation for overtime hours as defined above can be in the form of cash (at 1.5 times the staff member's base rate of pay) or compensatory time off sometime before the close of the current fiscal year in which it was earned. Such compensatory time is earned at the rate of 1.5 times the actual overtime hours. Accumulated and unused compensatory time at the end of the fiscal year must be paid in cash; it cannot be carried over to a new fiscal year.

The appropriate departmental authority is charged with the final responsibility for deciding the method of compensating the staff member. The staff member's wishes regarding his or her preference for cash or time off will be considered in light of departmental budgetary and staffing needs. The appropriate departmental authority will schedule or designate the use of accrued compensatory time.

If your P&S staff member is supported by general education or student computer fee funds, you must obtain prior approval from the College. Send requests electronically, with your DEO's endorsement for extra hours to be worked, to Julie Rothbardt, Senior Director of CLAS Human Resources.