OVERTIME AND COMPENSATORY TIME

2. Monitoring Compensatory Time
OBSERVATION
Per the Employee Policies Manual, Code 3.402, Section Hours of Work –
Overtime, Comp. Time, and Release Time, “The County reserves the right to
offer compensatory time off in lieu of paid overtime . . . and the employee retains
the right to refuse compensatory time off in lieu of paid overtime. . . . When the
collective bargaining agreement is silent on the subject of Compensatory Time
Off in Lieu of Overtime (Comp. Time) for FLSA non-exempt employees, Comp.
Time shall not be an option and paid overtime shall prevail”.
Among some of the guidelines in the Policies Manual are the following:
• Comp time is earned at time and one half of the hours worked.
• Accurate records showing time worked shall be certified to by the
employee and maintained by the supervisor.
• Earned compensatory time must be recorded in the County’s central
payroll system as part of the regular payroll processing.
• Comp time earned must be used within forty (40) working days of
occurrence or paid at overtime rate.
• FLSA non-exempt employees may not accrue more than 240 hours of
comp time with some exceptions.
• Any balance of unused comp time should be paid to the employee
before the employee transfers from one department to another.
• Upon separation from County employment, payment for all
accumulated comp time will be made in one lump-sum payment at the
employee’s final regular rate.
Our testing revealed the following items:
• The County supervisors, as a whole, are not monitoring accrued comp
time balances for the maximum balances allowed and the timeframe in
which balances must be used or paid out. Balances are allowed to
accumulate above the maximum accrual amount and are allowed to
carryover for long periods of time creating a situation in which the
County could be responsible for paying out wages at a higher rate
when time is taken or upon separation from County employment. This
increases overtime costs.
• Gracedale is not recording comp time in the County’s central payroll
system as part of the regular payroll processing using the pay codes
set up in Lawson. They have been overriding the Lawson system
comp time balances to reflect comp time earned. Comp time used
was recorded properly.
• The Deputy Sheriff Association’s collective bargaining agreement is
silent with regard to comp time except with regard to overnight
assignments. Deputy Sheriffs earned comp time for assignments
other than overnight work after their contract effective date which is in
violation of the County Employee Policies Manual and the Deputy
Sheriff Association collective bargaining agreement.
RECOMMENDATION
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