Business Office Memorandum
Additional Straight Time and Compensatory Time Explained
All employees who are in positions designated non-exempt under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are eligible for overtime and can earn compensatory time at a rate of one and a half times their normal hourly rate. If there are any questions regarding eligibility, please see your supervisor.
Overtime is accrued when a non-exempt employee works more than 40 hours in any given workweek. The standard workweek is defined as 12:01 a.m. Sunday through midnight, the next Saturday. This applies only to time physically worked during the workweek. Leave hours such as vacation, sick, holiday, administrative, etc. do not count towards the 40 hours required to qualify for overtime compensation. In a week that includes some leave time, if the total of the leave time plus the hours actually worked is greater than 40 hours, you will receive “additional straight time” compensation. For the hours you actually work beyond 40 you will receive overtime compensation at “time and a half.”
Government employers like the University can give people compensatory time instead of overtime pay, at the same 1.5 times rate.
Policies:
Additional Straight Time: The department must pay for additional straight time using funds that would normally go to other things. Please do not work additional straight time without coordinating it first with your supervisor. Additional straight time is paid at your normal hourly rate. Federal law prohibits additional straight time from being converted to compensatory time.
Overtime: It is the policy of the College of Arts & Sciences that classified staff will not work overtime without prior written approval. All overtime eligible staff have signed a statement from the College agreeing to this policy. If you have questions about this policy, please speak to your supervisor. Overtime is paid (or given as comp time) at one and a half times your normal hourly rate. For current college policies and forms: http://www.colorado.edu/ArtsSciences/facultystaff/administration/staffinfo.html
Examples:
This can be confusing. Jon Roberts created this handy overtime calculator you are welcome to use to help you understand additional straight time and overtime. Here are three examples too.
Example A:
Let's say a given week includes one day that is a holiday, you discussed the need to work an
additional 8 hours on Saturday with your supervisor. In this case you would receive your normal pay
plus 8 hours of additional straight time pay. You would not earn overtime, since the total number
of hours you actually worked was 40.
| Hours | Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actually worked | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 40 |
| Holiday/Leave | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Normal Hours | 40 | |||||||
| Additional Straight Time | 8 | |||||||
| Overtime | 0 |
Example B:
Let's take the same situation as Example A. This time you also received prior written permission
to work overtime. In this week you worked 10 hours instead of 8 hours one of the days. In this
case, you would receive your normal weeks pay, plus 8 hours of additional straight time pay. You
had two qualifying hours of overtime. You would receive 3 hours of compensatory time.
| Hours | Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actually worked | 0 | 0 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 42 |
| Holiday/Leave | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Normal Hours | 42 | |||||||
| Additional Straight Time | 8 | |||||||
| Overtime | 2 |
Example C:
Let’s take the example where you received prior written permission to work overtime in a normal
workweek. There are no holidays and you didn’t use any type of leave. You worked three 10-hour
days and two 8-hour days. You physically worked 46 hours. You would have 6 qualifying hours of
overtime. You would receive 9 hours of compensatory time.
| Hours | Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actually worked | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 46 |
| Holiday/Leave | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Normal Hours | 46 | |||||||
| Additional Straight Time | 0 | |||||||
| Overtime | 6 |
