Adopted by the Mayor & Board of Aldermen, 10/7/98

Section 1      Overtime Pay Provisions

Employees of the Town may be required to work overtime hours as necessitated by the needs of the Town and determined by the Department Head.  The Town will compensate non-exempt employees with pay at the rate of one and one-half times, the overtime hours worked in excess of 40 hours within a seven-day work week.  (FLSA Exceptions) Fire fighters overtime will be paid when hours exceed 212 hours in a 28 day consecutive period.  Law enforcement personnel overtime will be paid when hours exceed 171 in a 28 day consecutive period.  Compensatory leave requires approval by the Town Manager when creating a balance that exceeds 100 hours.

Department heads and supervisors shall make every effort to see that work is accomplished within the established work week for their respective departments.  However, the Town recognizes that weather conditions, required seasonal activities, emergencies and other situations may dictate the number of hours needed to provide Town services.

Whenever practicable, departments will schedule compensatory time off within the applicable work period for non-exempt employees.

Section 2      Compensatory Time

Compensatory time may be given in lieu of cash overtime compensation under the following FLSA guidelines (29.USC 207(0)).

(1) Compensatory time is provided at the rate of 1.5 hours for each hour of overtime (special provisions for public safety employees);

(2) Compensatory time must be provided in accordance with some agreement or understanding with employees.  Employees must agree to be compensated in comp time hours in lieu of cash compensation;

(3) FLSA comp time hours limits are 480 for public safety, emergency response, and seasonal employees, and 240 hours for all other employees;

(4) Employees may request the use of accumulated comp time as paid time off; and

(1) Employees must be compensated for any unused accumulated comp time if employment is terminated.  

Section 3       Call-back and Stand-by Pay

The Town provides a continuous twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week service to its customers.  Therefore, it is necessary for certain employees to respond to any reasonable request for duty at any hour of the day or night.  One of the conditions of employment with the Town is acceptance of a share of the responsibility for continuous service, in accordance with the nature of each job position.  If an employee fails to respond to reasonable calls for emergency service, either special or routine, the employee shall be subject to disciplinary actions up to and including dismissal.

Call back -  Non-exempt employees will be guaranteed a minimum of two hours of wages for being called back outside of normal working hours when not on stand-by.  ?Call back? provisions do not apply to previously scheduled overtime work (scheduled one or more days in advance). On-call duty shall not be assigned to employees who are on approved vacation leave, sick leave, civil leave, or military leave without authorization from the Town Manager.

Stand-by- Hours actually worked while on stand-by are calculated beginning when the employee reports to the work site and are added to the regular total of hours worked for the week. In-addition, employees on stand-by will be paid an established flat stand-by rate. Stand-by time is defined as that time when an employee must remain near an established telephone or otherwise substantially restrict personal activities in order to be ready to respond when called.

Time spent by an employee who is required to remain on-call /stand-by on the Town?s premises or so close thereto that he cannot use the time for his own purposes is considered working time.  However, if he is required only to leave word where he may be reached, or has the use of the Town?s beeper, the hours spent on call-or on stand-by are not regarded as working time.

Stand-by duty shall not be assigned to employees who are on approved vacation leave, sick leave, civil leave, or military leave without authorization from the Town Manager.

Section 4      Hourly Rate of Pay

The hourly rate of pay, maintained by the Human Resource Manager, is obtained by dividing the annual salary by the standard work hours in a year (i.e. 2,080 for a 40 hour per week employee).  If, in a single work week, an employee works at two or more different types of work for which different straight time rates have been established, the employee shall be paid at the rate for the job being done when overtime was incurred.

Employees working in a part-time or temporary capacity with the same duties as full-time employees will work at a rate in the same salary range as full-time employees.  The hourly rate for employees working other than 40 hours per week, such as police officers working an average of 42 hours per week, will be determined by the dividing the average number of hours scheduled
per year into the annual salary for the position. All employees must be paid at least the minimum wage.
 

Section 5       The Work Week

A work week is a regular recurring period of 168 consecutive hours.  The work week need not coincide with the calendar week.  It may begin any day of the week and any hour of the day but it must in each case be established in advance.  The work week may be changed, but only if the change is intended to be permanent and is not made to evade the policy.  The Town shall operate under a one work week period.  All employees shall have an established work week of Thursday through Wednesday for the purpose of computing overtime compensation.  The work week shall run from midnight to midnight.  Exception:  Law enforcement personnel and fire fighters shall work a 28 day work cycle.

Section 6       Unauthorized Work

Hours worked by an employee without his supervisor's permission or contrary to his instructions may or may not be considered as hours worked.  Unrecorded hours worked during a workweek by an employee at the job site or at his home must be counted as hours worked if the supervisor knows or has reason to know of such practice.  The Town must enforce the no-work rule and may not unjustly benefit from work performed without prior knowledge.

Section 7       Hours Worked

?Hours worked? is defined as the time during which an employee is required, suffered or permitted to be on duty on the Town?s premises or at a prescribed work place.  Ordinarily, an employees working hours will include all hours from the beginning of the work day to the end with the exception of periods when the employee is relieved of all duties for the purpose of eating meals.

Section 8       Leave and Holidays

In determining the number of hours worked by an employee within a workweek or established pay period, time spent on vacation, sick leave, civil leave, and military leave will be counted as time worked.  Such time off is included in straight-time pay, and is not included in computing hours of work for overtime pay.

Section 9        Meal Period

A bona fide meal period is a span of at least 30 consecutive minutes (never less) during which an employee is completely relieved of duty and free to use the time for his purposes.  It is not counted as hours worked or paid time.  Any meal period of less than 30 consecutive minutes shall be paid as hours worked.

Section 10       Training Time

Required attendance at training sessions, workshops, and other meetings, whether before, during or after the employees regular work schedule, is work time.  Free time employees have while participating in these programs will not be considered as work time.

Voluntary attendance at training sessions, workshops, and other meetings is not work time.  Attendance is voluntary only if the employee is not led to believe that his working conditions or continued employment would be adversely affected by non-attendance.

Section 11        Record keeping  for Hours Worked

Records of hours worked and wages paid are required to be kept for each employee subject to this policy.  Records must be preserved for at least three years.  Such records shall be kept by the Human Resource Manager.

(1)    Name
(2)    Home address
(3)    Date of birth, if under 19
(4)    Sex and position classification in which employed (sex may be indicated by use of prefixes Mr., Mrs. or Ms.)
(5)    Time and day of week the workweek begins
(6)    Total wages paid each pay period
(7)    Date of payment and pay period covered
(8)    Basis on which wages are paid
(9)    Regular hourly rate of pay for any week in which overtime is worked
(10)  Amount and nature of each payment excluded from regular rate
(11)  Hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek
(12)  Total daily or weekly straight-time earnings or wages
(13)  Total overtime earnings for the workweek
(14)  Total additions to or deductions from wages paid each pay period plus the dates, amounts and nature of the times which make up the total additions and deductions.

Section 12        Exemptions - General

The exempt or non-exempt status of any particular employee must be determined on the basis of the nature of work performed, the duties, responsibilities assigned, and the terms or conditions of employment.  The Town Manager is responsible for determining exempt positions.

Section 13        Exempt Employees - Time Off

Employees in positions determined to be ?exempt? from the FLSA (as Executive, Administrative, or Professional staff) will not receive pay for hours worked in excess of their normal work periods.  These employees may be granted compensatory leave by their supervisor where the convenience of the department allows and in accordance with procedures established by the Town Manager.  Such compensatory time is not guaranteed to be taken and ends without compensation upon separation from the Town.

At the discretion of the Town Manager, administrative leave may be granted to exempt employees for substantial overtime worked.

Section 14        Volunteers

Excluded from the definition of ?employee? and thus from coverage of the Fair Labor Standards Act, individuals who volunteer services to the Town, such as volunteer firefighters, and who volunteer services without compensation, but are paid expenses, reasonable benefits, or a nominal fee.

All individuals who volunteer to perform fire protection activities will not lose their volunteer status if they are reimbursed for travel or training time or other out-of-pocket expenses they may incur.  These individuals will not be treated as employees of the Town, but will be paid the nominal amount allowed under the Fair Labor Standards Act per call for expenses incurred during the performance of their work.