OVERTIME AND COMPENSATORY TIME

Section C – Compliance
1. Release Time Pay Code
OBSERVATION
Effective August 1, 2007, the County updated the Employee Policies Manual,
Code 3.402, Section - Hours of Work – Overtime, Comp. Time, and Release
Time, to include Release Time for FLSA exempt (non-union) employees. The
County has no legal obligation to pay overtime wages or provide additional time
off to employees who are FLSA exempt. This policy authorized departments to
offer additional time off for FLSA exempt employees to use after they have
worked extra hours because of extraordinary or seasonal workloads as a means
to adjust their work schedules to meet varying workloads.
FLSA exempt employees are eligible for Release Time when they have worked
more than forty-five (45) hours in a workweek. Paid time off (benefit leave
entitlements) shall be included in that calculation with the exception of sick leave.
Only the excess over the forty-five (45) hours are eligible for Release Time on an
hour for hour basis. Accurate records showing time worked shall be certified to
by the employee and maintained by the supervisor. Release Time must be used
within twenty (20) working days of occurrence or forfeited.
Our testing revealed the following:
• There currently is no pay code in the payroll software for timekeepers
to code hours earned and hours taken for Release Time. This leaves
each individual department responsible for maintaining their own
manual records.
• There are two FLSA exempt employees earning Release Time for any
hours in excess of forty (40), not the stated forty-five (45) hours per
policy.
• One department is using Comp time pay codes to record hours earned
and taken for Release Time for two individuals that are FLSA exempt.
These individuals were previously in positions where they were FLSA
non-exempt earning comp time until their promotions to FLSA exempt
positions. This resulted in comp time hours being co-mingled with
release time hours. Further complicating this situation is the fact that
documentation of actual hours worked was destroyed resulting in an
inability to verify how hours earned were calculated. In addition, these
individuals are not using their Release Time within the twenty (20)
working days of occurrence and the time is not being forfeited as per
policy.
RECOMMENDATION
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