Policy No. B. 2.00
Date of Issue 7/2/2014
The Federal Wage and Hour Law requires that overtime must be paid to all non-exempt employees working in excess of 40 hours per week. Exempt personnel are not eligible for overtime compensation. The university has designated the calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) for calculation of overtime. Time worked over 40 hours in any calendar week is subject to payment of time-and-one-half in 15 minute increments. Overtime is not calculated on a daily basis except under the terms of certain collective bargaining agreements.
The standard university workweek is 38.75 hours. Additional hours worked beyond 38.75 but not exceeding 40 hours in that week are paid at straight time. For purposes of weekly overtime calculation, vacation, sick leave, personal days, bereavement days, jury duty and military release time are not counted toward the 40 hours in that week. Only the nine scheduled university holidays are included in the calculation.
Union employees are governed by the applicable provisions of the appropriate labor agreement.
Example:
If a non-exempt employee takes a vacation day on Monday, but is required to report for work on Saturday for six (6) hours), the Saturday work will be paid at straight time unless the other hours worked that week outside of Monday equal at least 40 hours.
Using the same example, if the Monday absence is a scheduled university holiday such as Memorial Day, and the balance of the week is worked at 7.75 per day, the Saturday hours will be paid as 1.25 at straight time and 4.75 at the overtime rate.
Overtime work may be voluntary (working with a supervisor鈥檚 approval) or mandatory (working because of a supervisor鈥檚 direction). Supervisors are urged to minimize authorized overtime work by non-exempt staff.
Time worked over 40 hours per week, whether or not authorized by the supervisor, is compensable under Wage and Hour Law. It is the supervisor's responsibility to authorize overtime prior to it being worked. An employee working overtime without obtaining the prior permission is subject to discipline for failing to follow the approved procedure. However, under all circumstances, the overtime worked must be paid.
Compensatory time off is not permitted as an alternative to paying a non-exempt employee the time-and-one-half due for any and all hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. A department may, however, choose to schedule a shorter work day during the same work week to offset a long day for non-exempt employees.
Example:
An employee works a 12-hour day to complete a project with a tight deadline.
The supervisor may:
- Have the non-exempt employee offset the 4.25 extra hours worked by rescheduling the employee鈥檚 time to give an equal number of hours off during the balance of that same work-week. The total hours worked would then not exceed 40; or
- Leave undisturbed the balance of the work week, and if the employee works all other days, pay 3.0 hours of overtime at the rate of time-and-one-half the employee鈥檚 hourly rate of pay.