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State Compensatory Time and Overtime (Federal Compensatory Time)

STATE COMPENSATORY TIME

The state compensatory time policy applies to both exempt and non-exempt employees, which includes Code 1000 (administrative and professional) and classified employees of the university. The policy does not apply to faculty employees or those positions that require student status as a condition of employment.

Guidelines for Earning of State Compensatory Time

Employees must have prior approval before earning compensatory time.

Employees may not earn state compensatory time for work performed at any location other than the employee’s regular or temporarily assigned place of employment. For telecommuting employees, with dean or director approval, an employee may earn state compensatory time for work performed at home or other regular place of employment.

Employees can earn state compensatory time for meetings held outside of the normal business day. This does not extend to social activities held in conjunction with conferences or other events.

With prior supervisory approval, employees who are assigned projects that exceed normal expectations and have specific due dates may earn state compensatory time for the time spent working on the project in order to meet the due date.

State compensatory time cannot be earned for reading or responding to e-mail outside of the normal workday.

Payment Guidelines

State compensatory time is earned at straight time at the end of the work week when the total number of hours recorded on the weekly timesheet as worked plus the total number of hours of paid leave or paid holidays exceeds 40 hours in one workweek. State compensatory time expires within 12 months of the week it was earned.

Job Type May be Paid for State Compensatory Time No, May Not be Paid for State Compensatory Time Must be Paid for Hours Worked Over Their Appointed Time
Full-time Exempt   X  
Part-time Exempt X    
Full-time Non-exempt X    
Part-time Non-exempt N/A N/A X

Full-time exempt employees may not be paid for earned state compensatory time but instead should make time to use their state compensatory time before it expires.

Part-time exempt employees may accrue state compensatory time for the number of hours that exceed the hours for which they are appointed, if the hours worked and hours of other paid leave and/or paid holiday time exceed the number of hours for which he or she is appointed. A part-time exempt employee who works hours in excess of their appointed work hours can either be paid for the hours worked or earns state compensatory time.

Example: An exempt employee, who is appointed to work 20 hours per week, works a total of 25 hours in a given workweek. The employee can be paid for the additional five hours worked, at straight time, or receive five hours of state compensatory time, also at straight time.

Full-time non-exempt employees may be paid for state compensatory time hours when the taking of earned state compensatory time would be disruptive to normal teaching, research, or other critical functions as determined by management.

Part-time non-exempt employees may not accrue state compensatory time if the hours worked and hours of other paid leave and/or paid holiday time do not exceed 40 in a workweek. Part-time non-exempt employees must be paid for the hours worked over their appointed work hours; they may not accrue state compensatory time.

Earning of State Compensatory Time on Holidays

Employees scheduled to work on an official holiday will receive holiday pay and may earn state compensatory time.  Exempt or non-exempt employees may be paid for state compensatory time earned on holidays only if it is determined that allowing compensatory time off would disrupt normal teaching, research, or other critical functions as determined by management.

Use of State Compensatory Time

There is a cap on the number of state compensatory hours you may earn. An employee’s state compensatory time balance cannot exceed 144 hours OR the employee’s current sick leave balance, whichever is higher.

Administrative and Professional (Code 1000) Staff can use up to a maximum of 20 hours of state compensatory time in a workweek with prior supervisory approval and cannot exceed two consecutive workweeks.

Example: An A&P employee using the maximum of 20 hours of state compensatory time in a given workweek may also use 20 hours of accrued and available annual leave for a total of 40 hours absent time

Classified staff can use up to 40 hours of state compensatory time in a workweek with prior supervisory approval and cannot exceed two consecutive workweeks.

An employee transferring without a break in service from one UT Austin department to another can transfer a state compensatory balance of up to 144 hours to the new department.

An employee separating from the university can use up to 40 hours of state compensatory time during their last week on the payroll.

Loss of Unused State Compensatory Time Balances

An employee must use state compensatory time, including holiday compensatory time, within the 12 months following the end of the workweek in which it was earned, or it lapses.

Employee Responsibilities

  • The employee shall request to use state compensatory time through his or her supervisor.
  • Employees should promptly and accurately record on the weekly time report all time worked plus use of paid leave or paid holiday time and the use of state compensatory time.
  • Administrative and Professional employees account for time worked on a weekly basis.
  • Classified employees account for time worked on a daily basis.

Supervisor and Department Responsibilities

  • The supervisor must review and approve the use of state compensatory time, verify that the employee has accurately recorded the use of their time on the time report, and sign the electronic or paper time report.
  • Supervisors are encouraged to accommodate, to the extent practicable, the employee’s use of state compensatory time.

State Compensatory Time and Travel for Official University Business (For Exempt Employees Only)

Any time spent actually working may be counted as work time.

Exempt employees can earn a limited amount of state compensatory time, not to exceed two hours, for the time spent traveling to and from the business destination.

If an exempt employee travels during their regular shift time, they can count the time spent traveling as work time.  Anytime traveling outside of their shift time, is not considered work time.

If an exempt employee travels outside of their regular shift time, they may count only two hours round trip, regardless of the length of the trip, as work time.

If an exempt employee attends non-required “after hour” or social events at a conference, they may not count that time as work time. 

Timesheets

  • State compensatory time is earned at straight time.
  • Employees using electronic timesheets record time worked in the Hours Worked row (first row). The timesheet will automatically calculate the state compensatory time hours; employees using paper time sheets record actual time worked in the Hours Worked row and the department time keeper must manually add state compensatory time to the employee’s balance using the ETA command in *DEFINE.

Payment

  • State compensatory time is paid using a Departmental (Manual) Payroll Voucher. Once the voucher has been processed, the department time keeper must manually remove the hours paid from the employee’s state compensatory time balance

For Assistance: Questions regarding earning state compensatory time while traveling should be directed to Human Resource Services - Strategic Workforce Solutions.

OVERTIME (FEDERAL COMPENSATORY TIME)

Overtime applies only to non-exempt employees of the university.

Earning

Overtime is earned at time and half at the end of the work week when the total number of hours recorded on the weekly timesheet as worked exceeds 40 hours in one workweek. Overtime and Federal Compensatory Time (banked overtime) does not expire.

Job Type Eligible to be Paid for OT Not Eligible to be Paid for OT
Full-time Exempt   X
Part-time Exempt   X
Full-time Non-exempt X  
Part-time Non-exempt X  

Full-time and part-time exempt employees do not earn overtime but may earn state compensatory time. (See State Compensatory Time section)

Full-time and part-time non-exempt employees are eligible to earn overtime with supervisory approval.

Example: An employee works two (2) hours over his regular 40 hour workweek. The two hours over is multiplied by 1.5. This gives the employee three (3) hours of overtime plus his 40 hours worked for a total workweek of 43 hours.

Banking Agreements and Federal Compensatory Time

Departments wishing to “bank” overtime, as federal compensatory time to be used at a later date, should submit a request in writing to Human Resource Services for review and approval. For a definition of “banking” and further instructions on submitting a request to “bank” overtime, please see UT Austin Guidelines for Banking Overtime [PDF].

Definition of Banking

“Banking” allows an employee to use accrued Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime in the future, past the pay period in which it is accrued.  Once overtime is banked, it is called federal compensatory time and may be used as leave.

Guidelines:

  • Requests to bank overtime are to be submitted in writing to Human Resource Services, Leave Management for approval from the Associate Vice President for Human Resources
  • Requests should be routed through the responsible Dean’s or Vice President’s office first
  • Banking requests cover the year and must be renewed annually
  • Employees are compensated in time-off at the rate of 1.5 times the hours worked over 40 in a workweek
  • All work time must be recorded on an official University time sheet
  • Unused overtime must be paid out at the end of the banking year, upon transfer to another department, or upon termination at the employee’s current salary rate
    • Twelve month cycles other than fiscal year are possible if there is a compelling business reason
  • No more than 240 hours of overtime may be banked at a given time. All hours accrued above 240 must be paid.
  • Departments are encouraged to recommend using earned overtime before annual leave or floating holiday leave
  • Human Resource Services periodically will send reports detailing overtime balances to departments with employees who have overtime balances even with an active Banking Agreement on file

Employee Responsibilities

  • The employee shall request to use federal compensatory time through his or her supervisor.
  • Federal compensatory time must be both requested and used before the banking agreement ends. 
  • Employees should promptly and accurately record on the weekly time report all time worked plus use of paid leave or paid holiday time and the use of federal compensatory time.

Supervisor and Department Responsibilities

  • The supervisor must review and approve the use of federal compensatory time, verify the employee has accurately recorded the use of the time on the time report, and sign the electronic or paper time report.
  • Federal compensatory time must be both requested and used before the banking agreement expires otherwise it must be paid out to the employee. Supervisors are encouraged to accommodate, to the extent practicable, the employee’s use of federal compensatory time.

Overtime and Travel for Official University Business (For Non-Exempt Employees)

Any time spent actually working may be counted as work time.

If a non-exempt employee travels during their shift time, regardless of the day of the week, they may count it as work time.

If a non-exempt employee travels outside of their regular shift time, they cannot count it as work time, unless they are driving.

For example, two non-exempt employees travel together from Austin to Dallas in a car after their regularly scheduled shift.  One drives; the other is a passenger. The driver will record any time spent driving as work time.  The passenger may not claim work time for the time spent as a passenger.

If a non-exempt employee attends non-required “after hour” or social events at a conference they may not count that time as work time. 

Timesheets and Payments

How to record using Overtime on your timesheet

  • Employees using electronic time sheets record “Over Time” in a leave row when using overtime; employees using paper time sheets record “C” in the Absent row and the department time keeper must remove the time from an employee’s overtime balance

Payment

  • Overtime is paid using an OV5 electronic payroll voucher. Once the voucher has been processed, the department time keeper must manually remove the hours paid from the employee’s overtime balance. Information about payroll vouchers is available on the Payroll Services Web site.
  • Part-time, non-exempt employees are paid at their regular hourly rate for time worked over their appointed hours but less than 40 hours

For Assistance: Questions regarding Federal Compensatory Time (Overtime) should be directed to Human Resource Services – Leave Management