Received a memo today from my employer that all overtime worked will be comp time until further notice. I am a non-exempt employee, work for a municipality,"town" and paid hourly. From what I understand the state of Va uses the federal labor law and doesn't have a specific law for this. So, reading the federal labor law I cant find anything that says I have to take Comp time for overtime worked, it states that I may choose to but doesn't make it mandatory. Police and fire fighters may have to, Im neither. Anyone have expertise in this subject?

Call the State labor board that is not allowed by Federal law, is the comp time 1 and 1/2 times the rate you would of been paid if not your getting the short end of the stick unless the time off works for you.

get ahold of your union

When you get to 40 hrs go home till your next pay period

I’m in VA also. My job is listed as “Exempt” under the Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA. in a nutshell I can be told no over time, comp only. I’m not state, though local govt workers (school admin offices) can sell back comp time if they can’t take it before it expires and funding is available.

Some state jobs are in the same category, but some others have ‘payback’ where they will pay for the time if you can prove you did not have the ability to use it.

Careful with internet experts. Some so called advice cost a long time co-worker his job after he sued for payment of comp time. He was terminated for insubordination as he refused to take his comp time and demanded payment in a very vocal and confrontational way, then refused to work his normally scheduled hours.

The State labor board is the place to go that is what they do everyday! Often the Feds say you cannot do something then they turn around and do the same thing so go to the experts already in place that know your State laws that would be the easiest.

Maybe James and passthru can help. They seem to be in the advice giving game. I wish you luck and hope all works out for you and yours!

No one unless essential or emergency type services should ever be aloud to make you bank hours and not be compensated in the pay period the work was done.... I am betting this city/county board just thinks they can buffalo everyone.

If i was so scared of getting fired that i would work for no money i would learn a skill easier to sell

CaptGus, my advice is to contact your HR and the State department of labor. Laws and regulations differ from State to State, so get the information from experts in your state before making any decisions.


That being said, most companies don’t use comp time any more unless they are exempt from the FLSA. These are usually State or Federal Government agencies. FLSA states that you need to be made whole for each pay cycle. Meaning either overtime pay or flex time. Flex time being if you work an hour over today you leave an hour early tomorrow. Maybe they meant flex time.

I hope you get this worked out and remember. Don’t take advice from the internet, without fact checking first.

After the last few weeks of dealing with customers, engineers, and associated talking heads...

I would trade OT for paid time off at a later date. In a heartbeat.

Mike

I would work more if I could get comp time. I hate over time.

I’d hope your town had their lawyer review the policy letter before they issued it! You could ask them first, the town lawyers, and obviously keep the copy of the notice.

I’ll deal with the comp time rules, plus pay cap etc, given my annual salary😊 Comp time isn’t working for free, and I much prefer that to flex time as I can build up comp time and then take a whole day (week) when it works best for me.

Is "comp time" hour for hour or is it like overtime pay 1.5, 2 or 3 hours off for each OT hour worked?

Of course these things are usually known when you take a job, but I don't think they could get one hour out of me on that flex thing, that screws up the second job/other scheduling two days running.

Hire a real lawyer who practices employment law and pay him for his expertise.

Comp time is hour for hour for us.

DOC comes to my mind - They pretty much work on a 28 day pay period (if you miss one minute) you loose all ot & much more.

Gus, what is your general location? I may be able to put you in touch with an actual attorney.

but I think I'd check with HR, or someone that should know what is going on at the Town and can explain it.

some light reading
https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/overtime-government.pdf

Back when I was a seasonal G man, the government agency I worked for did the comp time thing. I actually thought it was great. It was doled out at the "time and a half" overtime rate too, and it was banked.....even if I would have been fired or quit, I would have been paid for it.