(A) Any employee not covered by a collective bargaining agreement and who is not excluded from overtime pay by § 33.18 may take compensatory time off in lieu of receiving overtime pay in accordance with the provisions established within this section.
(B) If any employee elects to take compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay for any overtime worked, the employee must make an application for the compensatory time off on the applicable forms and process the application through the immediate supervisor no later than the end of the payroll period in which the overtime is worked. If the appropriate department/division head concurs in granting the compensatory time, he or she shall approve the form and submit it to the Finance Department for payroll processing.
(C) No employee may accumulate more than 80 hours of unused compensatory time credit at any one time.
(D) Approval authority for the granting of compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay rests with each department/division head. Any request for compensatory time in which the request is for more time than the employee has accumulated but not used, or in which the 80-hour accumulation limit has been reached, will not be approved.
(E) Compensatory time shall be granted at the rate of one and one-half hours for each hour of overtime compensation earned. Employees whose employment is terminated for any cause are entitled to compensation for any accumulated but unused compensatory time. The rate of compensation for each compensatory time hour in this situation shall be of the greater of: the average regular rate for the last three years of employment; or the regular rate earned at the time of termination.
(F) Pursuant to federal law (29 C.F.R. § 553.27), upon termination of employment, an employee shall be paid for unused compensatory time earned after April 14, 1986 at the rate of compensation not less than:
(1) The average regular rate received by such employee during the last three years of the employee’s employment; or
(2) The final regular rate received by such employee, whichever is higher.
(G) Compensatory time shall only be granted for overtime work which is required and has been previously approved by the appropriate supervisor.
(H) The Finance Director shall determine the appropriate entries to be made upon payroll records for recording compensatory time.
(I) Hourly (non-exempt) employees who are promoted into salaried (exempt) classification within the city shall be paid for their unused compensatory time that they had earned/banked as an hourly (non-exempt) employee. The payment for the unused compensatory leave shall be accomplished through the payroll process as soon as possible following promotion into a salaried (exempt) classification. Compensatory leave shall be paid to the employee through the payroll system at the rate of pay the employee held as an hourly (non- exempt) employee immediately prior to promotion to the salaried (exempt) classification. Following promotion into a salaried (exempt) classification an employee shall no longer be eligible to use or earn compensatory time.
(1980 Code, § 33.37) (Ord. 4076, passed 4-20-1981; Am. Ord. 4651, passed 4-7-1986; Am. Ord. 4826, passed 12-21-1987; Am. Ord. 5355, passed 11-18-1991; Am. Ord. 7607, passed 10-16-2006; Am. Ord. 8643, passed 12-28-2017)