General

For employees on a flexible work schedule, overtime work hours must be officially ordered in advance by an authorized agency official. Hours that an employee works beyond the normal 8-hour daily and 40-hour weekly overtime thresholds at the employee’s choice are not overtime hours of work (5 U.S.C. 6121(6)). Hours worked voluntarily by an employee beyond those overtime thresholds are non-overtime basic work requirement hours if performed within agency-established limits. However, if an employee exceeds those overtime thresholds because of work officially ordered in advance by an authorized agency official, the employee would be entitled to overtime pay for those work hours. Any overtime hours of work may not be included as part of an employee’s basic work requirement hours (5 U.S.C. 6121(3)).

An agency may adopt policies allowing employees to earn credit hours for hours worked voluntarily in excess of the employee’s daily or weekly basic work requirement, resulting in hours in excess of the employee’s biweekly basic work requirement (e.g., 80 hours for a full-time employee). The accumulated balance of credit hours for a full-time employee that may be carried over into the next pay period may not exceed 24 hours or any lower agency limit. Credit hours may only be earned for work performed during the established flexible time bands. An employee may use credit hours during future basic work requirement hours, subject to supervisory approval and any agency policies that bar use in the same week or pay period.