HRDG 4610 - Tours of Duty - Introduction

This Subchapter supplements the following regulations:

The following terms appear throughout the text of this document:

Administrative Workweek in USDA means the period of 7 consecutive calendar days, Sunday through Saturday. The administrative workweek in USDA begins at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, and ends at midnight on Saturday.

Exceptions: In rare cases, where employees are required to work shifts which span 2 calendar days, employees may be assigned to a different administrative workweek, and days may be defined as other than calendar days (i.e., may be defined as 24-hour periods). Variations in the administrative workweek must be documented, with a copy provided to the Employment Policy Branch, MRP Human Resources.

Basic Work Requirement means the number of hours, excluding overtime hours, that an employee is required to work or is required to account for by leave or otherwise.

Basic Workweek for full-time employees means the 40-hour workweek during which they are regularly scheduled to be on duty.

Compensatory Time is time off in lieu of overtime pay for irregular or occasional overtime work in excess of 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week that is ordered and approved by management in advance of the work being performed. When compensatory time is granted, it is substituted on an hour for hour basis for the amount of irregular and occasional overtime hours worked.

Compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay may be granted to employees under flexible work schedules for irregular or occasional and regular overtime work.

Compensatory time may be earned and used in the same pay period.

Compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay is distinguished from credit hours in that compensatory time derives from entitlement to pay for overtime work (i.e., work in excess of 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week, ordered in advance by management). Entitlement to compensation in the form of credit hours derives from work performed at the option of the employee that is in excess of the employee's basic work requirement of 80 hours in the biweekly pay period.

Note: Under certain alternative work schedules, the definition of overtime work changes. It is important to check the specific provisions of the employee's work schedule before making a determination on overtime work.

Compressed Schedule means:

For full-time employees: An 80-hour biweekly basic work requirement that is scheduled for less than 10 workdays.

For part time employees: A biweekly basic work requirement of less than 80 hours that is scheduled for less than 10 workdays and that may require the employee to work more than 8 hours in a day.

The hours of a compressed schedule are determined by the agency.

Core Hours (also referred to as core time bands) refer to the time during the workday, workweek or pay period within the tour of duty during which an employee covered by a flexible work schedule must be present for work or receive specific approval for leave or a core time deviation.

Core Time Deviation (CTD) is an absence specifically authorized by the supervisor during the core time that may be made up within the same day (for flexitour and flexitime) or within the same pay period (for maxiflex) during flexible time in lieu of a charge to any type of leave.

Credit Hours are those hours within a maxiflex work schedule that an employee elects to work in excess of his/her basic work requirement so as to vary the length of the workday or workweek. Credit hours are hours of work in excess of the basic work requirement, but within the flexible time band. Credit hours are hours of work performed at the employee's option; they are distinguished from work overtime hours in that they do not constitute overtime work (i.e., work in excess of 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week that is officially ordered in advance by management).

Credit hours are not overtime hours, since an employee must elect to work credit hours (i.e., management may approve an employee's request to work credit hours but they cannot order an employee to work credit hours). Hours of work in excess of the basic work requirement, which are required by management, must be ordered and approved as overtime work (or compensatory time) in accordance with premium pay regulations unless the employee voluntarily elects to work these hours as credit hours.

Credit hours may only be earned under maxiflex. They may be earned and used within the same pay period.

Customer Service Band is the period of the day that all offices must have phone coverage and technical assistance available. For APHIS and GIPSA headquarters (Washington, D.C., and Riverdale, MD) the customer service band is 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. AMS headquarters customer service band is 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Field offices should set the customer service band to conform to the hours of service.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) means the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 as amended (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq).

The Act provides for minimum standards for both wages and overtime entitlements, and delineates administrative procedures by which covered work time must be compensated. Included in the Act are provisions related to child labor, equal pay, and portal-to-portal activities. In addition, the Act exempts specified employees or groups of employees from the application of certain of its provisions. It prescribes penalties for the commission of specifically prohibited acts.

Flexible Hours (also referred to as flexible time bands) are the times during the workday, workweek, or pay period within the tour of duty during which an employee covered by a flexible work schedule may choose to vary his/her time of arrival to and departure from the work site consistent with the duties and requirements of the position.

Flexible Work Schedule means:

For full-time employees: An 80-hour work requirement that allows employees to determine their own schedule within the limits set by the agency.

For part-time employees: A biweekly work requirement of less than 80 hours that allows employees to determine their own schedule within the limits set by the agency.

Flexitime is a flexible work schedule that splits the tour if duty into two distinct kinds of time - core hours and flexible hours. The two requirements under any flexitime schedule are:

(1) The employee must be at work or on approved leave during core hours and,

(2) The employee must account for the total number of hours he/she is scheduled to work.

Flexitour is a flexible work schedule in which an employee, having once selected starting and stopping times within the flexible hours, continues to adhere to these times. Further opportunities to select different starting and stopping times may be provided subsequently by the agency.

Glide Time is that time in the flexible time band of a flexible work schedule when an employee may choose to deviate from his/her preset arrival and departure times.

Example: A full-time employee on a maxiflex schedule has a preset schedule of Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The employee regularly reports to work at 8 a.m. On some days, however, the employee chooses to report at 7:45 a.m. On those days, the employee's workday begins at 7:45 a.m. and may end at 4:15 p.m. or the employee may work until 4:30 p.m. and choose to leave early or report late on a subsequent day. The employee must account for 80 hours in the pay period.

Intermittent Work Schedule is a work schedule that has no regularly scheduled tour of duty or guaranteed number of hours of work in an administrative workweek.

Irregular or Occasional Overtime Work means overtime work that is not part of an employee's regularly scheduled administrative workweek; that is, overtime work that is scheduled and worked in the same administrative workweek.

Maxiflex Schedule is a flexible work schedule that contains core hours on fewer than 10 work days in the biweekly pay period and in which a full time employee has a basic work requirement of 80 hours for the biweekly pay period, but one in which an employee may vary the number of hours worked on a given workday or the number of hours each week, within the limits established by the organization.

Meal Period is a noncompensable break of a minimum of 30 minutes to a maximum of 60 minutes during the mid-workday.

Regular Overtime Work means overtime work that is part of an employee's regularly scheduled administrative workweek. In order to be regularly scheduled, overtime work must be specific as to the employee(s), the day(s), hour(s) and time to be worked and must be scheduled no later than midnight Saturday of the week before it is to be performed.

Regularly Scheduled Administrative Workweek for full time employees means the basic workweek, plus any regularly scheduled overtime. For a part-time employee, it means the days and hours within an administrative workweek during which the employee is regularly scheduled to work.

Regularly Scheduled Work means work that is scheduled in advance of the start of an administrative workweek.

Schedule C means a position that is excepted from the competitive service due to their confidential or policy-determining nature. These are political appointments that are either key policy-determining positions or involve a close personal relationship between the incumbent and key political officials.

Tour of Duty means the hours of a day (daily tour of duty) and the days of an administrative workweek (weekly tour of duty) that constitute a regularly scheduled administrative workweek.

Under a flexible work schedule the tour of duty means the limits set by an agency within which an employee must complete his/her basic work requirement.

Under a compressed work schedule or other fixed scheduled, “tour of duty” is synonymous with “basic work requirement”.

Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area, for purposes of this Guide, means the District of Columbia, Montgomery and Prince George's counties, Maryland, Arlington and Fairfax counties, Virginia and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church, Virginia.

Working Hours are the time periods of the day during which each employee can complete the designated number of hours for the work workday.