HRDG 4550 - Premium Pay - Section E - Subsection a

Employees are responsible for:

• Discussing travel plans with your supervisor prior to the temporary duty (TDY) assignment in order to ensure proper entitlements, and to reduce questions and problems after the TDY.
• Filing your request to have earned CTOT credited to you within six (6) pay periods of the ending date of your travel. If you fail to do so, your request may be denied. The date this request is made will not affect the time limit on forfeiture of unused CTOT. (Departmental Regulation 4050-550-02, Pay Administration - Compensatory Time Off for Travel, Section 10 a, dated June 20, 2008.)
• Using CTOT before annual leave unless you have use/lose annual leave. In such instances, use/lose annual leave must be used first. (Departmental Regulation 4050-550-02, Pay Administration - Compensatory Time Off for Travel, Section 11 e, dated June 20, 2008.)

Supervisors are responsible for:

• Discussing travel plans with your employee prior to the TDY assignment in order to ensure proper entitlements, and to reduce questions and problems after the TDY.

Note: Programs must establish written policy in order to deny requests.

You have 26 pay periods beginning in the pay period after it is earned.

Examples:

Unused CTOT is held in abeyance if you separate or go on LWOP due to:

• Service in the uniformed services (as defined in 38 U.S.C. 4303 and 5 C.F.R. 353.102) when restoration rights are involved.
• An on-the-job injury with entitlement to injury compensation (under 5 U.S.C. chapter 81).

In these instances, upon return to duty, you have 26 pay periods beginning in the pay period you return to duty to use the earned CTOT, or it will be forfeited permanently.

Example:

No, forfeited CTOT cannot be restored like use/lose annual leave. It can only be:

• Held in abeyance for the reasons noted above, or
• Extended for an additional 26 pay periods if it meets the conditions noted below.

CTOT is earned and used in 15 minute increments. Rounding is not permitted.

Travel status is defined as the time spent actually traveling for official purposes, which is:

• To / from a temporary duty site.
• Between two temporary duty stations,
• The usual waiting time before travel (e.g., security check-in at the airport. Usually one [1] hour domestically and two [2] hours internationally), and
• The usual waiting time that interrupts travel (e.g., layovers).

Travel time is calculated based on the time zone in which you left, e.g., if flying from Washington, DC (Eastern Standard Time [EST]) to Sacramento, CA, you would calculate CTOT time based on EST.

Unusually long waits prior to an initial departure, as well as extended layovers, (e.g., plane is late) are excluded. (FR Doc E7-7266 dated April 17, 2007)

Note: Long waiting periods that occur during your regular working hours are compensable as part of your regular tour of duty.

Example: Your tour is maxiflex (8 am to 4:30 pm) and you are traveling on a Monday between the hours of 6 am and 6 pm. Your flight is delayed by 2 hours. You arrive at your final destination at 5:30 pm instead of 3:30 pm. The 2 hour delay may be claimed as regular time and could count towards the 80 hour requirement under maxiflex.

You do not have to deduct a home-to-work commute if you are traveling:

• From your worksite to a transportation terminal and
• Outside of regular working hours.

Example: Employee’s tour is 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. S/he reports to the office on Tuesday, works the scheduled tour for the day and departs from the office for the airport at 6:00 pm due to a TDY assignment in another city. The flight is scheduled for 8:00 pm. The drive to the airport is 30 minutes. The employee may claim this 30 minutes as CTOT. S/he is not required to deduct a home-to-work commute in this instance.

Generally, CTOT entitlements are based on whether or not the time is otherwise compensable taking into account the official duty station (ODS) and the particulars of the scenario. Below are a few examples.

Scenario 1: Your ODS is Washington, DC with a telework site as your home and your are flying from National airport on a nonworkday. Presuming that the time is not otherwise compensable, you would not be entitled to CTOT for the travel time to the airport because National airport is within the limits of the ODS.

Scenario 2: Same as above except this time the airport is outside the limits of the ODS by 20 miles. Presuming that the time is not otherwise compensable, you would be entitled to CTOT for the excess travel time to the airport because it is outside the limits of the ODS.

Scenario 3: Your ODS is your home and will be flying to a TDY site on a nonworkday. The airport is 45 miles from your ODS. Presuming that the time is not otherwise compensable, you would be entitled to CTOT for the travel time to the airport because the airport is outside the limits of the ODS. The “home-to-work” commute, while existent, is so minute that it cannot be calculated since WebTA does everything in 15 minute increments.

Scenario 4: In this scenario the “limits of the ODS is defined as a 35 mile radius.” An employee teleworks from an alternate duty site in Tennessee 8 days each pay period. S/he commutes into the ODS, Riverdale, MD, 2 times per pay period. The employee will be going on TDY to Guam and leaving from the alternate duty site, Tennessee, because the airline tickets cost significantly less. The airport is within the limits of the employee’s home – the alternate official duty site. The employee will be leaving from his/her home for the airport and returning upon the completion of TDY before and after maxiflex hours (i.e., 6am – 6pm).

In this scenario, the employee is not eligible for CTOT for drive time to/from the airport because the airport is within the limits of the alternate ODS, in this case, home. The “home-to-work” commute, while existent, is so minute that it cannot be calculated since WebTA does everything in 15 minute increments.

Also see: HRDG 4550 Section F.

Your supervisor may permit you to fly home each weekend while on TDY assignment if s/he determines that it costs less than having you stay at the TDY site. Such a determination should be in writing. CTOT may be earned for the round trip travel on the weekend days. Check with your travel specialist for additional travel regulations.

If you are not permitted to travel home on weekends, then only the travel from home to the TDY site on the first day and the travel home on the last day is creditable towards earning CTOT.

Note: Nonexempt employees (those covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act) receive premium pay, not CTOT, for traveling to administratively controllable events on non-workdays during hours which correspond to their regularly scheduled duty hours.

If you are a part-time employee traveling during non-duty hours, you may be entitled to CTOT if the travel time does not qualify as compensable hours of work and meets the other requirements above (5 CFR part 550, subpart N).

However, if the travel qualifies as compensable hours of work (see 5 U.S.C. 5542[b] [2] [B] and 5 CFR 550.112[g] [2])-i.e., the travel involves or is incident to the performance of actual work, is carried out under arduous and unusual conditions, or results from an event that could not be scheduled or controlled administratively-you may not receive CTOT for the travel hours. (This travel time outside of your scheduled tour of duty, but not in excess of 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week, would be considered non-OT hours of work - - TC 01 regular time.)

For example, if you are a part-time employee with a regularly scheduled tour of duty of Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and you are required to travel on a Friday from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., you may be entitled to CTOT for those 2 hours if those travel hours are not otherwise compensable.

Note: Travel time is always compensable as hours of work if it falls within an employee's regularly scheduled administrative workweek (See 5 U.S.C. 5542[b] [2] [A] and 5 CFR 550.112[g] [1]). A part-time employee's regularly scheduled administrative workweek is (5 CFR 550.103) the officially prescribed days and hours within an administrative workweek during which the employee was scheduled to work in advance of the workweek. The supervisor may not adjust the regularly scheduled administrative workweek that normally applies to an employee (part-time or full-time) solely for the purpose of including planned travel time that would not otherwise be considered compensable hours of work.

Example 1: Non-exempt Employee

Travel to a TDY station on a non-workday:

Travel from a hotel to home on the following Saturday

An employee is required to travel to a TDY site for a week-long conference. The employee's regular working hours are 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday. Because the conference begins early Monday morning, the employee travels to a hotel at the TDY site the Sunday afternoon before the conference. The conference is scheduled to continue into the evening on Friday, so the employee returns home on Saturday morning.

In total, the employee spends 9 hours (12:30 PM to 5:00 PM on Sunday and 7:30 AM to 12:00 PM on the following Saturday) traveling to and from the conference. However, the half an hour the employee spends on Sunday traveling to the airport and the half an hour the employee spends on Saturday traveling from the airport within the limits of her ODS is considered equivalent to commuting time and is not creditable time in travel status. Also, the 30 minutes the employee spends having breakfast while waiting at the airport on the return home is considered a bona fide meal period and is not creditable travel time.

In this example, the employee's CTOT entitlement is as follows:

*These hours could also be paid as overtime (TC 21).

Example 2: Travel to a TDY site on a workday

From home to business meeting

From business meeting to home

On a workday, an employee is required to travel to a TDY site for an afternoon meeting. The employee's regular working hours under maxiflex are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The employee's supervisor does not require him/her to revert to an 8-hour day due to travel. In total, the employee spends 13 hours (6:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.) traveling to and from the worksite. However, the time between 7:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. is compensable as part of the employee's regular working hours. Also, an employee's time spent traveling outside of regular working hours to or from a transportation terminal (e.g., an airport or train station) within the limits of his or her ODS is considered to be equivalent to commuting time and is not creditable travel time (see 5 CFR 550.1404[d]). In this case, the employee spends 2 hours traveling to and from an airport within the limits of his ODS. (See 5 CFR 550.1404[b][2].)

In this example, the employee's CTOT entitlement is as follows:

Example 3: Travel to a TDY site on a nonworkday

Travel from home to a hotel on a Sunday

Travel from a hotel to home on the following Saturday

In total, the employee spends 13 hours (5:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Sunday and 6:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on the following Saturday) traveling to and from the conference. However, the hour the employee spends on Sunday traveling to the airport and the hour the employee spends on Saturday traveling from the airport within the limits of her ODS is considered equivalent to commuting time and is not creditable time in a travel status. In addition, the 2 hour delay at the airport on Saturday is an extended delay and also is not creditable time in a travel status.

In this example, the employee's CTOT entitlement is as follows:

From TDY site to intervening airport for connecting flight on a Friday.

Employee checks into hotel near airport — no CTOT. Employee returns to airport on Saturday morning.

In this example, the employee's compensatory time off for travel entitlement is as follows:

Travel to and from a training session

An employee is required to travel to a TDY site on a workday for a 1-day training session. The training location is a 2-hour drive from the employee's home. The employee's regular working hours under a standard tour of duty are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. In total, the employee spends 4 hours (6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.) driving to and from the training session.

If an employee travels directly between home and a TDY site outside the limits of his or her ODS, the time spent traveling outside regular working hours is creditable travel time. However, the agency must deduct the time the employee would have spent in normal home-to-work/work-to-home commuting. (See 5 CFR 550.1404[c].) In this case, the employee's normal daily commuting time is 2 hours (1 hour each way). Therefore, 2 hours must be deducted from the employee's creditable travel time.

In this example, the employee's CTOT entitlement is as follows:

Travel from home to first presentation site

Travel from first presentation site to second presentation site

In this example, the employee's compensatory time off for travel entitlement is as follows: