The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (“university”) will allocate and schedule work appropriately so that classified staff are not required to work over 40 hours in a workweek except when mandated by operating necessities. Supervisors of non-exempt employees are responsible for establishing work schedules as well as adherence to federal and state law and university policy. This policy applies to any and all hours where an employee is required or is permitted to work in excess of 40 hours in the standard workweek.
This policy applies to all classified employees.
For questions regarding this policy, contact Human Resources.
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended (“FLSA”): Federal law that establishes minimum wage and overtime standards for employees.
Exempt Employee: An employee, who, in general, is paid at least $455 per week, is paid a salary rather than on an hourly basis, and performs the duties of a bona fide exempt executive, administrative or professional. Whether an employee is exempt depends on his or her duties, responsibilities and salary.
Non-Exempt Employee: An employee whose job duties do not fall under one of the exemptions to the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Human Resources will determine a job title’s FLSA status. A list of specific classified job titles and the associated exempt or non-exempt status of each is provided in the Classified Pay Plan.
A department manager who has an approved or modified budget that includes a dollar amount for overtime is delegated authority by the President and the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating and Financial Officer to authorize payment of overtime for his/her employees. It is the responsibility of the department manager to ensure proper advance approval is obtained and funds are available and in the correct object within their departmental budget before overtime hours are worked. The signature of the department manager (or designee) on an employee's time record will constitute authorization for payment.
A department manager who signs the employee's timesheet is authorized to grant compensatory time to non-exempt staff. It is the responsibility of the department manager to ensure work is scheduled appropriately and compensatory time can be granted for work above the standard workweek not to exceed a maximum of 240 hours. The signature of the supervisor or department manager on an employee's time record will constitute granting of compensatory time as recorded on the time sheet.
A non-exempt employee must have the prior approval of his/her supervisor before overtime may be worked.
Non-exempt employees who are authorized to work in excess of 40 hours in a workweek are entitled to additional compensation in one of the following ways:
Non-exempt employees may be compensated for overtime by receiving compensatory time off at a rate of one and one-half times for all time actually worked over 40 hours in a workweek. Paid leave or holidays taken during a workweek do not count as hours worked in computing overtime. The following limitations apply:
A non-exempt employee may be compensated for overtime by payment at the rate of one and one-half times the employee’s current, regular rate of pay. The regular rate of pay includes the employee’s base salary or hourly rate, longevity pay and benefit replacement pay.
An employee must be paid for their accrued compensatory time under the following circumstances:
In all cases, the institutional time sheet or time card for each classified employee will be the official record of time worked and time taken. Appropriate supporting documentation must be maintained in the department for paid overtime or each grant of compensatory time off made to any employee. All classified employees must record their total workweek hours appropriately on their timesheets. (Refer to HOOP Policy 2.27 Time and Attendance Reporting.)
To identify total workweek hours for the purpose of calculating compensation for a non-exempt employee, the following possible scenarios should be considered:
There is no legal requirement, nor is the university obligated to pay overtime to exempt employees. Supervisors, however, may grant overtime or approve compensatory time off to exempt employees for hours in excess of 40 hours in a workweek in which the combination of hours worked, paid leave and holidays exceeds a total of 40 hours. Compensatory time will be granted judiciously and only on an hour for hour basis.
There are three situations in which, at the discretion of the supervisor and with the written advance approval of the head of the operating unit, exempt employees may be required to work and be paid for overtime hours they are required to work:
Payment for overtime will be made only when granting compensatory time off is not feasible, and the exempt employee will be paid at straight time. Supervisors must be consistent in applying the guidelines cited previously in this policy throughout their area(s) of responsibility when approving exempt employee overtime, whether monetary or compensatory time off.
Updated 08/05, 03/09