Official University Policy Manual

File code: ADM.COMPTIME.POL
Approval Date: 08/10/95
Approved By: President's Staff

Compensatory Time/Overtime Policy For Civil Service Employees Paid on an Hourly Basis Only

  1. Definition:
    Civil Service employees who work extra hours beyond their normal working day or on their days off are compensated for this extra work either through overtime payments or through compensatory time. Compensatory time is simply payment that is given in the form of scheduled time off, rather than in overtime payments. The conditions under which employees are expected to work for compensatory time, the manner in which compensatory time must be reported on employee time cards, and the limitations on the application and use of compensatory time are outlined below.
  2. Conditions:
    All supervisors have the authority to request that an employee work beyond normal working hours for compensatory time. It is expected that supervisors will give adequate notice to employees when requesting time beyond the normal working hours, and employees are expected to comply with such requests unless there are compelling reasons to deny them. If an employee feels that compelling reasons exist, he/she should discuss the matter with his/her supervisor. The final decision as to whether or not employees will be required to work beyond normal working hours for compensatory time is the responsibility of supervisors. If an employee feels that a supervisor's decision is unreasonable, he/she has the right to call the Director of Human Resources for clarification or to utilize the WIU Civil Service grievance procedure.
  3. Reporting:
    Employees must report extra hours worked for compensatory time on their time cards under one of the three options found under "compensatory hours worked". These three reporting options are straight rate, overtime rate, and doubletime rate:
    1. Straight Rate:
      A part-time employee who works beyond his/her normal working hours (e.g., a 50 percent time employee who normally works 3.75 hours a day, but on a given day works 5.75 hours) should report the extra hours worked as "straight rate" hours.
    2. Overtime Rate:
      Full-time employees who work hours beyond their normal full-time workday (i.e., employees with a normal 40-hour workweek, who work beyond 8 hours in one day, or employees on a 37.5 hour workweek, who work beyond 7.5 hours in one day) should report those hours worked as "overtime rate" hours. Both full and part-time employees should report hours that are worked on their first scheduled day off (e.g., hours worked on Saturday for an employee on a Monday through Friday schedule) as "overtime rate" hours. Note that only the number of hours actually worked should be reported under the option. The payroll process will compute from this number the actual compensatory hours earned.
    3. Doubletime Rate:
      Both full and part-time status employees should report hours that are worked on their second scheduled day off (e.g., hours worked on Sunday for an employee on a Monday through Friday schedule) as "doubletime rate" hours. Again, only the number of hours actually worked should be reported under this option.
  4. Limitation on the Application and Use of Compensatory Time:
    1. An employee may not accumulate more than one workweek's equivalent of work hours in compensatory time (e.g., those on a 40 hour workweek may accumulate 40 hours and those on a 37-hour workweek may accumulate 37 hours). Since any work assigned beyond this limit must be paid in overtime, at the appropriate rate, supervisors may not assign work hours which would cause employees to exceed their compensatory time accumulative maximum without advance approval from their supervising vice president for the payment of such overtime.
    2. Employees may not work compensatory time in any budgeted department other than their regular budgeted department.
    3. When compensatory time is used, it must be reported on the employee's time card under "compensatory hours used". These hours will then be deducted from the employee's "compensatory time balance" which is listed in the upper right hand area of the time card. When utilizing accrued compensatory time, no employee may submit more than 100 percent time of their normal appointment in any pay period, (e.g., a 50 percent employee may not submit more than 50 percent of the standard full-time hours for that position in any pay period).
    4. When an employee terminates employment, he/she will be paid compensatory hours accumulated and vacation time in a lump sum. Departments may not start the replacement employees until the vacation pay and compensatory pay expires from the terminated employee who is being replaced. Exceptions to this subsection must have written approval of the supervising vice president.
    5. The University reserves the right to reimburse through overtime payments any portion of compensatory time balances for appropriate reasons.
    6. Employees are requested to utilize compensatory time within six months of earning it. As with the usage of vacation leave, taking compensatory time off must be approved by the employee's supervisor.