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Governor Eric J. Holcomb
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Hours of Work and Overtime

This information is for employees of Indiana State Government only. Persons not employed by Indiana state government should contact their employer’s Human Resources Office or the nearest U.S. Department of Labor Office.

Introduction

All employees in state civil service are divided into two categories for purposes of determining whether or not they are entitled to additional compensation for additional hours worked:

  • Exempt: Those employees who are employed in an executive, administrative or professional capacity as defined by 29 CFR Part 541, and who are not covered by the federal minimum wage and overtime compensation laws; or
  • Overtime-eligible: Those employees who are not employed in an executive, administrative or professional capacity as defined by 29 CFR Part 541, and who are covered by the federal minimum wage and overtime compensation laws. These employees are also known as non-exempt employees.

These categories have meaning based on the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) which defines compensable hours of work and minimum wage requirements. Other relevant laws, rules, and policies applicable to employees of Indiana state government are referenced below.

Most state employees are subject to a standard calendar week that begins at 12:00a.m. on Sunday and ends 168 consecutive hours later at midnight on Saturday. Hours worked during that time period in excess of 40 hours will be compensated at a premium rate which is also known as time-and-a-half rate. State employees in law enforcement or firefighting who are covered by 29 USC 207(k), 29 CFR 553.200 et. seq., 31 IAC 5-7-8, or related provisions in the current Financial Management Circulars are subject to a different work period and do not earn premium pay on the calendar week basis.

Employees who are required to work on days designated as state holidays may choose to receive compensatory time off to take on another day. That comp time is Holiday Comp Time which is always paid at the straight rate. Holiday pay/comp time is not counted as hours worked in the calculation toward determining whether or not a premium pay rate applies in a particular calendar week work period; however, hours spent on holidays actually performing work are counted for overtime-eligible employees in determining the appropriate pay rate for overtime hours worked in that calendar week.

State Personnel Department Standardized Policy on Hours of Work and Overtime is effective on November 27, 2016. It applies to state government employees and is located here.

Overtime-eligible Employees

Overtime work must generally be approved in advance, although public safety and emergencies may require retroactive approval consistent with agency policy. Each agency must submit a plan to State Budget Agency outlining anticipated overtime needs for the fiscal year. Overtime work not anticipated in those plans must be reported within one business day.

Employees are prohibited from working additional hours without authorization and should notify supervisors in advance whenever they realize they may not be able to meet deadlines or complete assignments during assigned work hours.

Supervisors should set priorities and ensure that employees are managing their time with good planning and effective work habits; however, when overtime work is necessary, supervisors must follow agency procedures to request and secure authorization for such additional work.

  • Your agency’s HR Representative can inform you whether or not your classification is overtime-eligible. A general description of overtime-eligible classifications can be found at www.in.gov/sba/2512.htm. Choose the most recent Financial Management Circular entitled Job Classifications Normally Eligible for Premium Overtime.
  • State Personnel Department Rules 31 IAC 5-7-1, et seq., related to compensable hours of work and overtime for state government employees, are located here.

Pay Rates

Hours worked between 37.5 – 40.0 in a calendar week must be paid at the employee’s regular hourly rate. This is known as a straight rate.

Hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a calendar week must be paid at one-&-one-half (1.5) multiplied by the employee’s regular hourly rate. This is known as a premium rate.

Instructions for Entering and Approving Timesheets

Overtime-eligible employees must report all time worked (rounded to the nearest quarter-hour) in the time-reporting system used by the employing agency. The instructions below specifically apply to the PeopleSoft® / Time and Labor reporting system, although the concepts requiring regular reporting and monitoring of all hours worked and agreement between employee and employer for compensatory time off apply to all overtime-eligible employees in state government.

Overtime-eligible Employees

  • Report all hours worked using the Time Reporting Code “Hours Worked-REG” in the timesheet. Quick Steps provide details.
  • Report hours worked on any day on which actual hours worked differ from scheduled hours. More frequent reporting may be required by supervisor/manager even if hours worked are the same as hours scheduled.
  • Indicate agreement to receive Compensatory Time Off (comp time) by selecting CMP on the User Preference Page. Quick Steps provide details. Select PAY if do not agree to receive comp time. Selection applies to all overtime hours reported in a single pay period. Selection continues from one pay period to the next until changed on the User Preference page.
    • Receipt of comp time for overtime hours worked requires agreement of both Employee and Employer.
    • If agreement is not reached, then compensation for overtime hours worked must be paid in the pay period for which it is earned.

Supervisors and Managers of overtime-eligible employees

  • Assign and adjust work schedules to meet operational needs within agency budget and overtime spending plan.
  • Use Management Tools for Monitoring and Managing Overtime
  • Review and verify employees’ entries on timesheet before approving. See Quick Steps for details.
  • Review each employee’s selection for payment or comp time for overtime hours worked in that pay period. It will appear on the timesheet.
    • If Comp Time is authorized for that pay period, management agreement is documented by not changing the employee’s selection of CMP.
    • If Comp Time is not authorized for that pay period, manager may override the employee’s selection of CMP by selecting PAY.
    • Manager cannot override an employee’s choice of PAY.

Compensatory Time Off

  • Overtime-eligible employees who have comp time available when taking approved family-medical leave (FML), must use that comp time concurrently with that absence before using accrued leave or taking unpaid leave.
  • Compensation at the straight or premium rate applies to comp time as well as to payment.
    • Example: Employee whose hourly rate is $10 works 45 hours in a calendar week. If he selects PAY for that pay period, he will receive $15 for each of those five hours worked in excess of 40 in that calendar week. If he selects CMP (and management agrees), he will receive 90 minutes of comp time for each hour worked in excess of 40 in that calendar week. In this example, that is 7.5 hours of comp time for 5 hours worked at premium rate.
  • Unused comp time must be paid out in quarter following the quarter in which it was earned unless approved by SPD Director and State Budget Agency for a longer period of time.
    • Example: Comp time earned for overtime hours worked on August 10 that has not been taken by December 31 must be paid out in the paycheck that covers December 31.

Determining Hours Worked

De minimis Time (limited; considered irrelevant)

Checking email for one’s own convenience or for a trivial amount of time (such as ten minutes daily) is not compensable.

Break Time

Breaks are not required, but if they are provided:

  • A break of less than 20 minutes with no work performed is compensable as part of the regular work day.

  • Such breaks can be scheduled if necessary to ensure proper coverage and keep offices open for the public and to monitor usage.

Nursing Mothers are allowed breaks to express milk for newborns.

Holidays and Leave Time

Holidays and leave time are not counted as hours worked in the calculation toward determining whether or not a premium pay rate applies in a particular calendar week work period.

On-call Time

Time spent “on call” (not at the duty station and “waiting to be engaged”) can effectively be used primarily for the employee’s own purposes. Simply requiring the employee to provide contact information, or to refrain from using alcohol, or to respond within a reasonable time is not overly controlled by or primarily for the employer’s business. On-call time is not compensable.

If the employee is required to perform actual work during an on-call period, time spent working is compensable (rounded to the nearest quarter-hour). Travel to/from an emergency call-out assignment that occurs outside an employee’s regular schedule should be compensated.

Training Time

Attendance by overtime-eligible employees at lectures, meetings, training programs and similar activities, given by the employer or under the employer’s auspices, is counted as working time unless all of the following four criteria are met:

  1. Attendance is outside of the employee's regular working hours;
  2. Attendance is in fact voluntary;
  3. The course, lecture, or meeting is not directly related to the employee's job; and
  4. The employee does not perform any productive work during such attendance.

If an employee voluntarily attends lectures, training sessions, or courses offered by an independent purveyor of learning, on the employee’s own initiative, that voluntary attendance is not counted as hours worked, even if directly related to the job or paid for by the employer.

Travel Time

Home to Work Travel: An overtime-eligible employee who travels from home before the regular workday and returns to his/her home at the end of the workday is engaged in ordinary home to work travel, which is not work time.

Home to Work on a Special One Day Assignment in Another City: An overtime-eligible employee who regularly works at a fixed location in one city is given a special one day assignment in another city and returns home the same day. The time spent in traveling to and returning from the other city is work time, except that the employer may deduct/not count that time the employee would normally spend commuting to the regular work site.

Travel That is All in a Day's Work: Time spent by overtime-eligible employees in travel as part of their principal activity, such as travel from job site to job site during the workday, is work time and must be counted as hours worked.

Travel Away from Home Community: Travel that keeps an overtime-eligible employee away from home overnight is clearly work time when it cuts across the employee's workday. The time is not only hours worked on regular working days during normal working hours but also during corresponding hours on nonworking days. USDOL Wage and Hour Division does not consider as work time that time spent in travel away from home outside of regular working hours as a passenger on an airplane, train, boat, bus, or automobile.

Sleeping Time and Certain Other Activities: An employee who is required to be on duty for less than 24 hours is working even though he/she is permitted to sleep or engage in other personal activities when not busy. An employee required to be on duty for 24 hours or more may agree with the employer to exclude from hours worked bona fide regularly scheduled sleeping periods of not more than 8 hours, provided adequate sleeping facilities are furnished by the employer and the employee can usually enjoy an uninterrupted night's sleep. No reduction is permitted unless at least 5 hours of sleep is taken.

Other Resources

Exempt Employees

Employees who are exempt from the laws, rules, and policies applied to overtime-eligible employees are known as Exempt Employees. Basically, exempt employees are those who meet a salary threshold and perform duties that meet the criteria in the standardized tests:

Min salary $684 per week (or the equivalent to $35,568 per year)*

+  Standardized duties tests

  • Professional,
  • Administrative, or
  • Executive

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Exemption

*Threshold reflects minimum of pay range for affected classifications, not individual salaries.

Exempt employees shall account on their timesheets for 75 hours worked and/or leave time to legitimate payment of their regular salary in each pay period. This is required pursuant to principles of public accountability, including IC 4-1-2-1, 31 IAC 5-7-1 and IC 35-44.1-1-3; and consistent with 29 CFR 541.710. Time must be reported no less often than biweekly.

In extraordinary circumstances, the State may grant opportunities to receive compensatory time off to exempt employees who are not normally eligible to earn overtime compensation. The Financial Management Circulars (FMC) entitled “Compensatory Time Off for Normally-Exempt Employees” setting forth those circumstances and limitations are found at www.in.gov/sba/budget-information/financial-management-circulars. The most recent FMC will be at the bottom of that chronological list.

Questions

If you have questions about the designation of your classification or matters related to hours of work and overtime, please contact your HR Representative.

Supervisors and Managers may contact for Employee Relations Division (1.855.773.4647 Option #4) for questions about:

  • Addressing poor performance
  • Addressing misconduct
  • Scheduling options
  • Link to Supervisor’s Manual (coming soon)

Employees in the state civil service, except those appointed by the governor, may file a complaint concerning the application of a law, rule, or policy to that employee. The complaint must identify the law, rule, or policy allegedly violated, the facts supporting the allegation, and the remedy the employee is requesting. Information about civil service is located at www.in.gov/spd/policies-and-procedures/laws-rules-and-policies.