Expiration of "flex" hours accrued

I work for a school district, part time with no benefits.
My job requires that I put in more than four hours a day, but I can only be paid for four hours. Extra pay is "flex" time, which i can use if I am sick or want a holiday.

My employer wants to change their policy from a 45-day accumulation of flex time to a 10 day accumulation - in short, I would have to take a day off or be sick within 10 days of when I worked those extra hours.

I've worked 15 extra hours already, and don't want to see that disappear. Is this legal for them to 'expire' hours I have worked like that?

russtopher wrote:I work for a school district, part time with no benefits.
My job requires that I put in more than four hours a day, but I can only be paid for four hours. Extra pay is "flex" time, which i can use if I am sick or want a holiday.

My employer wants to change their policy from a 45-day accumulation of flex time to a 10 day accumulation - in short, I would have to take a day off or be sick within 10 days of when I worked those extra hours.

I've worked 15 extra hours already, and don't want to see that disappear. Is this legal for them to 'expire' hours I have worked like that?

Just off the top of my head..... Your workplace is governed by state labor laws. I don't know what state you are in and even if you told me I wouldn't know what those laws are. I have a hard time believing that you can be "required to work" hours and then be told that you won’t be paid for them. On its face it seems that this is a wage and hour violation. On the other hand, I also have a hard time believing that the school board would have legal council that is so incompetent as to advise them to institute a pay policy that is blatantly in violation of the law.

You are going to have to seek out some sort of local labor law attorney in order to find out what is legal and what is not in your jurisdiction. I guess you could start out by calling your state wage and hour administration to begin your inquiry.

I'm sorry I was not of more assistance.

Good luck.

Eric

As an employee of a goverment agency you can accumulate up to 160 hrs, with no expiration date. Normally this would apply to overtime hrs only, not regular hrs, without overtime as is in this case. But using the same law for overtime, in reality they should pay for all actual hrs worked. If they want to use comp time then you can accumulate up to 160 hrs... Keep in mind that this regulation the comp time is for overtime hrs only. Your employer is bending the rules by using the compt time in non-overtime week and then he is also bending the rules by putting a limit of use it or lose it rule... The employer appears is making his own rulles as he goes.

29 CFR 553.22 ``FLSA compensatory time'' and ``FLSA compensatory time off''.
(a) Compensatory time and compensatory time off are interchangeable terms under the FLSA. Compensatory time off is paid time off the job which is earned and accrued by an employee in lieu of immediate cash payment for employment in excess of the statutory hours for which overtime compensation is required by section 7 of the FLSA.

(b) The Act requires that compensatory time under section 7(o) be earned at a rate not less than one and one-half hours for each hour of employment for which overtime compensation is required by section 7 of the FLSA. Thus, the 480-hour limit on accrued compensatory time represents not more than 320 hours of actual overtime worked, and the 240-hour limit represents not more than 160 hours of actual overtime worked.

(c) The 480- and 240-hour limits on accrued compensatory time only apply to overtime hours worked after April 15, 1986. Compensatory time which an employee has accrued prior to April 15, 1986, is not subject to the overtime requirements of the FLSA and need not be aggregated with compensatory time accrued after that date.

29 CFR 553.25 Conditions for use of compensatory time (``reasonable period'', ``unduly disrupt'').

(c) Reasonable period. (1) Whether a request to use compensatory time has been granted within a ``reasonable period'' will be determined by considering the customary work practices within the agency based on the facts and circumstances in each case. Such practices include, but are
not limited to (a) the normal schedule of work, (b) anticipated peak workloads based on past experience, (c) emergency requirements for staff
and services, and (d) the availability of qualified substitute staff.

(2) The use of compensatory time in lieu of cash payment for overtime must be pursuant to some form of agreement or understanding between the employer and the employee (or the representative of the employee) reached prior to the performance of the work. (See Sec. 553.23.) To the extent that the (conditions under which an employee can take compensatory time off are contained in an agreement or understanding as defined in Sec. 553.23, the terms of such agreement or understanding will govern the meaning of ``reasonable period''.

(d) Unduly disrupt. When an employer receives a request for compensatory time off, it shall be honored unless to do so would be ``unduly disruptive'' to the agency's operations. Mere inconvenience to the employer is an insufficient basis for denial of a request for compensatory time off. (See H. Rep. 99-331, p. 23.) For an agency to turn down a request from an employee for compensatory time off requires that it should reasonably and in good faith anticipate that it would impose an unreasonable burden on the agency's ability to provide services of acceptable quality and quantity for the public during the time requested without the use of the employee's services.[52 FR 2032, Jan. 16, 1987; 52 FR 2648, Jan. 23, 1987]