make up time for unpaid holidays

Jeffrey

We allow our employees to work to make up for a future day off. For instance; the day after thanksgiving is not a paid holiday,but we are shut down that day.In the past we have allowed employees to work some extra hours in the weeks prior to the holiday to make up for the day after the holiday. The extra hours do add up to more than 40. Do we have to pay them overtime or if they agree can they apply that time to the day after the holiday?

Rockie

Most states do not allow compensatory time in lieu of overtime. Check your state laws. If the "extra" hours are put in the same week as the holiday, this should not create an overtime situation - merely a change in work schedule. But...if the time worked is in excess of 40 hours in the workweek, then you should pay them overtime. You can't save up the extra hours over a several week period in anticipation of a day off. Hope this helps.

bsa

Oh, I get it. You CANNOT use comp time (working this week to make up for time off next week), [u]unless[/u] you are a gov't agency. If you are allowing employees to work more than 40 hours in a workweek, then you owe them overtime in that week. They cannot "save it up" to be used later -- that's comp time.

Does your policy state that holiday pay is calculated as "hours worked"? It doesn't have to. Most companies do not include holiday pay in their hours worked overtime calculation. We schedule extra work for the M-T-W of Thanksgiving, usually 10 hour days -- then with 8 hours holiday pay, they get a total of 38 hours pay with a 4 day weekend. [u]ALL[/u] of my employees are aware that holidays and vacation do not count toward overtime and will adamantly avoid working more than 32 hours in a holiday week.

Rockie

No. We do not count holiday time as hours worked. It looks like you are safe in doing what you are doing by simply redistributing the workweek and hours worked per day. Just be careful with your state laws. A few states (California I know if) requires you to pay overtime by the day. If an hourly employee works more than 8 hours in a day, then overtime will have to be paid. I think CA is the only state with this restriction.