Pay Administration

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Pay Administration

• Compensatory Time for Travel

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COMPENSATORY TIME FOR TRAVEL

• Authorized by the Federal Workforce Flexibility
  Act of 2004
• Section 203 of the Federal Workforce Flexibility
  Act of 2004 authorized a new form of compensatory
  time off for time spent by an employee in a
  travel status away from the employee's official
  duty station.

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What Is Compensatory Time For Travel?

• Compensatory time for travel is time off that may
  be earned for time spent in a travel status away
  from the employee's official duty station when
  such time is not otherwise compensable. The new
  compensatory time off provision applies to
  employees without regard to exemption status and
  is applicable only after all other regulatory
  guidance has been applied (FLSA, Title V). This
  coverage does NOT apply to members of the Senior
  Executive Service.
• This provision became effective on January
  28,2005.

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What Qualifies As Travel For The Purpose Of This
Provision?

• Travel must be officially authorized by an
  appropriate agency official or established agency
  policies AND must be for work purposes.
• Travel status includes only the time actually
  spent traveling between the official duty station
  and a temporary duty station, or between two
  temporary duty stations (and the usual waiting
  time that precedes or interrupts such travel).
• For the purpose of earning compensatory time off
  for travel, bona fide meal periods are not
  considered time in a travel status.

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What Is Meant By "Usual Waiting Time"?

• Airline travelers generally are required to
  arrive at the airport at a designated
  pre-departure time. Such waiting time at the
  airport is considered usual waiting time and is
  creditable time in a travel status.
• The agency guidance for usual wait time is 1
  hour before the scheduled departure of a domestic
  flight and 2 hours prior to departure of an
  international flight.
• Time spent at an intervening airport waiting for
  a connecting flight (e.g., 1 or 2 hours) also is
  creditable time in a travel status.

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Basic Rules For Application

• There is no limitation on the amount of
  compensatory time off for travel an employee may
  earn.
• Agencies must track and manage compensatory time
  off for travel separately from other forms of
  compensatory time off. NFC has established two
  new prefixes to handle this type of leave.
• The Agency has established that compensatory time
  off for travel may be earned and used in
  increments of 15 minutes.
• An employee must use his or her accrued
  compensatory time off for travel by the end of
  the 26th pay period after the pay period in which
  it was earned or the employee must forfeit such
  compensatory time off.

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SCENARIOS
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An employee leaves hotel at 800 a.m. for a 45
minute commute to the airport for a 1000 a.m.
flight. In route, the hotel shuttle breaks down
and the employee misses the flight. The employee
catches next flight out at 200 p.m. and arrives
at employees HOME airport at 330 p.m. The
employees regular commute to work time is 30
minutes. The airport is within the commuting
area and the commute from the airport to home is
1 hour 15 minutes.
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Things To Remember

• The law prohibits payment for unused compensatory
  time off for travel under any circumstances.
• Employees may not earn compensatory time off for
  travel during basic (non-overtime) holiday hours
  because they are being paid their rate of basic
  pay for those hours.
• Compensatory time off for travel may be earned by
  an employee only for time spent in a travel
  status away from the employee's official duty
  station when such time is not otherwise
  compensable.
• COMPENSATORY TIME OFF FOR TRAVEL PROVISIONS ARE
  APPLICABLE ONLY AFTER ALL OTHER APPROPRIATE
  REGULATORY GUIDANCE HAS BEEN APPLIED (Title V,
  FLSA)

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For Information On Compensatory Time For Travel
Contact

• Lisa A. Flores
• Human Resources Specialist
• FSA/WDC/HRD/DOB
• 202-418-9024
• Lisa.Flores_at_wdc.usda.gov
• Mike Badger
• Human Resources Specialist
• FSA/KC/HRD/COS
• PH [phone]
• Michele.Badger_at_kcc.usda.gov

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OR

• Barbara Boyd
• Acting Chief
• FSA/WDC/HRD/DOB
• 202-418-8955
• Barbara.Boyd_at_wdc.usda.gov
• Kathy Williams
• Chief
• HRO, KC, COS
• 816-926-1392
• Kathy.Williams_at_kcc.usda.gov

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Refresher Course

• TITLE V
• VS
• FLSA

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Title V

• Title 5 (EXEMPT employees) stipulates that "Time
  in a travel status away from the official duty
  station is compensable under Title 5 only when
  the travel is performed within the regularly
  scheduled administrative workweek or under one of
  the following circumstances
• it involves the performance of work while
  traveling
• it is incident to travel that involves the
  performance of work while traveling
• it is carried out under such arduous and unusual
  conditions that the travel is inseparable from
  work or
• it results from an event which could not be
  scheduled or controlled administratively,
  including travel by an employee to and from such
  an event to his or her official duty station."

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Administratively Controlled

• The phrase, "could not be scheduled or controlled
  administratively" refers to the ability of an
  executive agency to control the event which
  necessitates an employees' travel. The guidance
  provided states that "the control is assumed .
  whether the agency has sole control, or the
  control is achieved through a group of agencies
  acting in concert, such as a conference sponsored
  by a group of federal agencies."
• This would mean that even contractors are
  controllable by the Agency.

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Fair Labor Standards Act

• Under the FLSA, employees who are NONEXEMPT have
  only to meet ONE of the following criteria in
  order to be compensated for travel
• actual WORK is performed while traveling (this
  means work which can ONLY be done while traveling
  such as flying a plane)
• the employee travels, as a passenger, on a ONE
  day assignment outside the duty station
• the employee travels, as a passenger, on an
  OVERNIGHT trip away from the duty station in
  which case the travel must take place either
  during normal duty hours OR hours on a NON
  workday which correspond with the employees
  normal duty hours (i.e. 8-430).
• The above are in ADDITION to the coverage under
  Title V.