I work as a contractor for a Federal agency. Periodically, we are ordered to work additional hours. For example, about a year ago, I was required to work until about 2am on a Friday night, return to work at 9am and stay until about 10pm. That works out to 21 hours. Our compensation is “comp time” (appropriately enough ). The trick is, we are compensated with this comp time at a direct parallel rate - that is, I was compensated with 21 hours of semi-discretionary leave.
That comp time, however, is off-the-books and is only kept track of by myself and my company supervisor. If I use comp time, I am told to fill out my timesheets as though I were actually at work that day because when the government auditors come in, they’d have a problem with it (we get audited by the Defense Contract Auditing Agency, if that matters).
I’ve raised this issue with my front-line management in the past, basically saying, “I worked an additional 21 hours, so I should at least get time-and-a-half; it was on a weekend, so it should be double-time.” I was essentially told that this is just how it is and the alternative is no compensation at all.
My position is:
1. My job is supposed to be 40 hours a week. While I routinely voluntarily work (significantly) beyond that, that’s my choice. If I’m compelled to by the company I should be monetarily compensated.
2. If they absolutely can’t or won’t compensate my colleagues and I by paying us 1.5x or 2x our normal rate, we should at a minimum be compensated with 1.5x or 2x the hours in comp time (my 21 hours would become 32.5 or 42 hours).
I’ve looked over the Fair Labor Standards Act, but there are exemptions to the compensation rules for certain employers, including the Government. While my colleagues and I are not direct Federal employees, we are often treated as such.
Is anyone familiar with this situation? FTR, I’m not looking to start a fight with the company - with the way things are going, I’m content to have the honor of being employed.
I’m making some assumptions here, but if working as a contractor I would wager that you are paid on an hourly basis (non-exempt) instead of salary (exempt). I’m also assuming that your job is not on the list of overtime exempt roles.
Based on those assumptions - in all of the states I’ve ever worked, this comp time deal is not legal. If your position qualifies for OT after 40hours per week (or 8 hours per day in some states), you can not bank hours worked to use for future pay periods. Strictly forbidden.
What flickster said about being exempt/non-exempt. Back when I contracted to companies, I was exempt but competition for workers was such that they paid true time-and-a-half and double-time where appropriate.
The most distinguishing thing we always hear from contractors here on the SDMB is your employment status. You do not work for the federal agency. You work either (a) for yourself as a self-contractor, or (b) for another company that pays your salary in return for your work at the government agency. In the case of (a) you’d have a contract with the federal agency that spells out your compensation. In the case of (b), you should bring up the issue with your contract house, since it is them that you work for. I’m certain that they’d love to hear about the overtime, because they probably would make a premium on those hours, too. By falsifying your time card you could be contributing to cheating your contract house out of money they deserve for your work.
Can you find “comp time” in your employee handbook?
I’ll wait… humm tee dummm
Ah, didn’t think so.
Comp time doesn’t actually exist anywhere that I’m aware. It’s a friendly agreement between employer and the employee. But, basically, it’s a way that the employer gets overtime work from you without paying overtime wages to you.
There’s probably a greater legal question here as to whether the employer can require additional hours of the employee without directly compensating that employee monetarily.
This is for the Fed Gov, but I’m sure other employers copy their system. Like mentioned above, it all comes down to whether you are salaried or hourly and what state. Working for the Fed Gov I get less than my normal wage* for each hour of OT, or 1 hour of comp for each hour of OT
OT pay is capped at 1.5 times a certain pay grade. If your normal salary is greater than that, you get less than your normal rate for each hour OT.
I am not an expert at employment law (IANAL), but I have worked many years in federal contract work. As others have said, we need to know whether you are an exempt or non-exempt employee.
I am exempt, and more than 40 hours per week is more usual than hitting 40. Being exempt, if I am compelled to work more than 40 hours I am entitled to exactly nothing and have felt lucky if I get a handshake and a thank you.
This is all about your company policy, which we don’t know, your exempt status, which we don’t know, and state and federal law.
If you are not a direct federal employee, then you are not a direct federal employee, regardless of how you are treated (although I don’t know exactly what you mean by that). You are an employee of your contracting company and are bound by law and company policy. How the federal government treats their employees has no bearing on you.
I am surprised at flickster’s assertion about comp time being explicitly illegal. I have never heard that and would be interested in a cite. I see nothing illegal (but IANAL) about a formal comp time policy as long as hours billed to the customer represent actual hours worked. However, in your case, hours billed do not equal hours worked and that is very dicey, especially when it comes to the federal government, who can audit your timekeeping records.
I don’t mean to speak for flickster, but I think he means working comp time “off the books” is illegal (he says “… this comp time deal”). Which I’m pretty sure it is (I know it is for Feds).
Anytime someone wants to keep something “off the books”, you should be concerned. When I’ve worked on federal contracts, there was a major emphasis on accurate time keeping and use of charge numbers, including for overtime and comp time.
Private employers cannot offer comp time in place of overtime. This is indeed illegal. However, government employers can offer comp time. IF you are an employee of the government, you can be offered comp time in place of overtime. If you are an employee of Acme Widgets, it would be illegal for your employer to offer you that choice. The law that makes it illegal does not apply to the government itself as an employer.
If you are working on a federal contract, there might be something in the contract that allows the comp time option. I’m not sure if this can be legally done, but it might be, because there are sometimes regulations aimed at equalizing the working conditions of federal employees, and employees of contractors doing work for the government.
One thing that could be going on is that management is not required to pay you overtime OR give you comp time (that is, you are an exempt employee) but has decided to give you some “management directed time off.” This is a gift, is not required, and therefore is not required to be any specific number of hours.
If management is doing this, but still billing the client for your time, that is ugly.
Also, this quote from the OP is just flat-out not how the FLSA works. If are non-exempt and you work the time, you need to be paid. Period. If you are exempt, the time you work is irrelevant. Exempt is all you can work at one low, low price.
“My job is supposed to be 40 hours a week. While I routinely voluntarily work (significantly) beyond that, that’s my choice. If I’m compelled to by the company I should be monetarily compensated.”
Uh, only for non-exempt employees. There’s a very strict definition of what makes an employee non-exempt. There’s nothing wrong with offering a regular, exempt employee comp time – in fact, it’s a nice benefit because there’s nothing requiring employers to compensate for overtime for non-exempt employees. So let me repeat: Yes, private employers sure as hell can offer comp time with no requirement to pay for overtime.
). The trick is, we are compensated with this comp time at a direct parallel rate - that is, I was compensated with 21 hours of semi-discretionary leave.