Pay Administration

1. Compensatory Time for Travel Pay Administration

2. 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. COMPENSATORY TIME FOR TRAVEL

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. SCENARIO’S

8. An employee leaves hotel at 8:00 a.m. for a 45 minute commute to the airport for a 10:00 a.m. flight. In route, the hotel shuttle breaks down and the employee misses the flight. The employee catches next flight out at 2:00 p.m. and arrives at employee’s HOME airport at 3:30 p.m. The employee’s 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.

9. 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)

10. For Information On Compensatory Time For Travel Contact: Lisa A. Flores Human Resources Specialist FSA/WDC/HRD/DOB 202-418-9024 Lisa.Flores@wdc.usda.gov Mike Badger Human Resources Specialist FSA/KC/HRD/COS PH: (816) 926-3569 Michele.Badger@kcc.usda.gov

11. OR: Barbara Boyd Acting Chief FSA/WDC/HRD/DOB 202-418-8955 Barbara.Boyd@wdc.usda.gov Kathy Williams Chief HRO, KC, COS 816-926-1392 Kathy.Williams@kcc.usda.gov

12. Refresher Course TITLE V VS FLSA

13. 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."

14. 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.

15. 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. 8-4:30). • The above are in ADDITION to the coverage under Title V.