New FLSA regs & Comp Time

crawfod

The new FLSA regs make it clear that certain occupations, such as Police Officers, Firefighters, EMTs, etc, cannot be classified as Exempt. I had a Personnel buddy ask me if I thought these people were no longer eligible for Compensatory Time and could only receive actual OT wages. My answer was these positions must receive compensation for legitimate OT hours at time and a half, but this extra compensation could be in the form of actual dollars OR comp time, if the employee willingly agrees to accept comp time. Have the rules changed on how comp time is to be handled?

Hatchetman

No, the Fair Pay regs only affects the exempt employees.

The regs regarding non-exempts remain the same (except for highly compensated employees --$100,000 or more per year).

Remember, under 29CFR553.22and .24 thdse employees in the public sector only may get comp time at time and a half for working more than 40 hours in a work week. These regs don't change with the Fair Pay regs.

System

The OT regs are also different for sworn personnel. The 40 hour per week rule does not apply. Sworn personnel are not eligible for overtime unless they work (for example) more than 86 hours in a two-week pay period unless otherwise stated in a contract. Sworn personnel may also be on a 28 day schedule where they must work over 172 hours to be eligible for overtime. Look under section 207K of the code; commonly called the '7K' exemption. There is a table of different options for compensating sworn personnel. Some sworn personnel CAN be exempt, usually at the rank of Sergeant or higher, but it depends on the job.