(A) Overtime shall be avoided if at all possible. For some county departments and offices overtime is unavoidable. Every effort should be made to keep the accumulation of overtime hours to a minimum. Any time worked over 40 hours in any defined work week or work period (fire: 212 hours in a 28-day period; law enforcement: 171 hours in a 28-day period) by a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) covered employee, shall qualify as overtime.
(B) The following rules apply to the accumulation and compensation for overtime worked.
(1) For the purpose of calculating overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the work week shall begin at 12:00 a.m. on Monday and end at 12:00 a.m. (midnight) on Sunday.
(2) All overtime needs to be pre-approved by a supervisor or department director.
(3) Employees with excessive overtime may be subject to a desk audit.
(C) (1) Some county employees are not covered by the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime requirements. These employees/officials include elected officials, policy-making appointees and legal advisors. Other exempt employees include executive, administrative and professional employees.
(2) The county determines, after review and approval from Human Resources and the Board of County Commissioners, which positions to characterize as exempt from the FLSA. FLSA exempt positions are generally compensated on a salary basis and do not accrue compensatory time for overtime hours worked.
(D) (1) For all regular full-time, temporary and seasonal employees, overtime shall be paid at the rate of time-and-one-half the regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of the 40-hour work week or pay period for law enforcement personnel, as described in division (A) above.
(2) All authorized monetary payments for overtime shall be issued on the regularly scheduled pay day for the pay period in which it was earned.
(E) (1) The Federal Government has allowed local and state governments to pay compensatory time (“comp-time”) instead of overtime monetary pay. This is provided that employees agree to accept comp-time in writing and the rates at which it is paid are the same at which monetary compensation would have been paid. For instance, a worker who works more than 40 hours per week will receive one and one-half hours of comp-time for each hour of work over 40.
(2) No employee not eligible for overtime pay shall be eligible for comp-time pay.
(F) Comp-time may only be used when an employee has agreed in a signed writing to receive overtime through comp-time.
(1) All accrued compensatory time shall be used before the use of accrued vacation or other forms of leave.
(2) In no event shall any employee be able to accumulate hours in excess of the limits established below.
(a) Employees engaged in public safety activities, emergency response activities, or seasonal activities who are not exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime rules may accumulate no more than 480 hours.
(b) Employees engaged in any other activity not listed above and who are not exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime rules may accumulate no more than 240 hours. Additionally, once such employees have worked 160 hours of overtime, they may accumulate no more comp-time.
(3) No employee may be forced or coerced to accept comp-time in lieu of payment.
(4) Employees must be allowed to use the comp-time within a reasonable period after the employee makes a request for its use if that will not unduly disrupt the operations of the department.
(G) Records of overtime hours worked shall be maintained by the department head/elected official and reported monthly to the Clerk/Auditor.
(H) When call-out occurs, as in the case of emergencies, snow removal and the like, the county shall pay a minimum of one-half hour of overtime when the employee is called out to work other than their regular work schedule.
(I) All time spent in training, in conferences, at workshops, meetings and the like or traveling to such events, when such attendance is required by the county, shall constitute hours worked and shall be used to calculate overtime eligibility under the FLSA.
(Ord. passed 6- -2019; Ord. 2021-12, passed 12-21-2021)