Article 5
Flexible or Compressed Work Schedules

Section 1. Genera

a. The Department will adhere to all applicable Government-wide rules and regulations and the provisions in this Article in the administration of flexible or compressed work arrangements. Moreover, the Department shall administer this article in accordance with DPR 610, as specified or except as provided herein.
b. All employees will come under a Variable Week work schedule, except that any employee may work a standard workday/workweek or a compressed work schedule. Moreover, employees who were previously working in an office that operated under a "maxiflex" schedule will be "grandfathered" and allowed to remain on that schedule as long as they remain in that office.

Section 2. Definitions and Administration

a. Variable Week is a flexible schedule containing core time on each workday in the biweekly pay period in which a full-time employee has a basic work requirement of eighty (80) hours for the biweekly pay period. An employee may vary the number of hours worked on a given workday or the number of hours each week, within the limits established for the organization.
b. Under Variable Week, the following shall apply:

(1) Credit hours are earned for the time voluntarily worked in excess of an employee's basic work requirement. Employees may not "borrow" credit hours or use credit hours unless they have been accrued during a previous pay period. In accordance with law, full time employees may carry over up to twenty-four (24) credit hours from pay period to pay period; part-time employees may carry over not more than one-fourth of the hours in their biweekly basic work requirement. Credit hours are earned and may be used in fifteen (15) minute increments. However, time spent in Absent Without Leave (AWOL) status will not count toward the basic work requirement for the purpose of accumulating credit hours.
(2) Core hours are those designated times and days during the biweekly pay period when all employees must be present for work. Core hours shall be 51⁄2 hours a day. Core hours will be 9:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. With the supervisor's approval, an employee may use credit hours or leave to account for absences during core hours, as well as absences outside of core hours.
(3) Overtime hours are all hours in excess of eight (8) hours in a day or forty (40) hours in a week that are officially ordered in advance, but do not include credit hours.

c. Under a Compressed work schedule, the following shall apply:

(1) In the case of a full-time employee, a compressed schedule is a fixed, non-flexible schedule constituting an eighty (80) hour biweekly basic work requirement that is scheduled for less than ten (10) workdays; in the case of a part-time employee, it is a fixed, non-flexible schedule constituting a biweekly basic work requirement of less than eighty (80) hours that is scheduled for less than ten (10) workdays;
(2) The compressed schedules used most often are the 5-4/9 and the four-day week. In the 5-4/9, full-time employees work eight daily 91⁄2-hour fixed tours of duty and one 81⁄2-hour fixed tour of duty in a pay period. In the four-day week, full-time employees work four daily 101⁄2-hour fixed tours of duty each week.
(3) The specific fixed hours and days to be worked are subject to the approval and authorization of the supervisor.
(4) Since a compressed work schedule, like a standard workweek, is a fixed schedule, the concepts of flexible time bands, core time, and credit hours do not apply to a compressed work schedule.
(5) Overtime hours are any hours in excess of those specified hours that constitute the compressed schedule.

Section 3. Timekeeping: Sign In/Sign Out and Reporting Time and Attendance

a. Serial sign in/sign out sheets showing times of arrival and departure will be used to record and report attendance. Under the serial sign in/sign out method, employees sign their name and record their actual time of arrival in order, one after the other. When departing from work at the end of the employees' work day, employees sign their name and record their time of departure in order, one after the other.
b. Employees will report and record all hours in the Department's electronic time and attendance system.
c. Employees who do not physically report to an office at the beginning and/or end of each day will not be using the serial sign in/sign out sheets. When these employees report to the office they will use the serial sign-in/sign-out sheets.

Section 4. Flexible Hours of Work

a. Except as may be limited by Section 5 or Section 7 below, employees on the day shift may begin work as early as 6:00 a.m. and may work as late as 7:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Employees will not receive premium pay for hours worked past 6:00 p.m. unless such work is approved overtime.
b. Employee(s) will verbally inform their supervisor(s) of their personal plans to work both more than eight (8) hours and beyond the end of the official work day of the immediate supervisor by no later than the end of the core hours of the day on which the hours are to be worked, so that the supervisor may make or alter the employee's work assignment.

Section 5. Exceptions to Flexible Hours of Work

a. The mission of the Department must take priority. Due to specific job requirements in some offices, or lack of available work because of the nature of the position, all employees may not be allowed to utilize the full range of flexible time bands. As an example, this could apply to an employee whose responsibility and duties are limited to receiving visitors, answering incoming phone calls, or dealing with customers during the normal business hours of the office.
b. Managers and Supervisors may require an employee or groups of employees to go off flexible or compressed schedules temporarily to meet Agency needs. The employee will be given as much advance notice as possible.

Section 6. Part-Time Employees

a. The basic work requirement for a part-time employee is the number of hours which the employee is required to work or otherwise account for by use of credit hours, approved leave, compensatory time, or excused absence during a pay period.
b. The basic work requirement for a part-time employee is the number of hours the employee is scheduled to work that day.
c. Core hours will not necessarily apply to part-time employees. Appropriate arrangements will be worked out between the employee and the supervisor, consistent with the needs of the office and the spirit of the program. However, supervisors retain the right to establish and make final decisions relative to any core hour arrangements for part time employees.

Section 7. Coverage of Mission and Office Functions

a. Management will continue to have responsibility and authority for seeing that the mission of the Department is carried out. Management will determine mission need requirements after discussions with employees at the office level. Some examples of the principal forms of coverage are:

(1) Answering phones;
(2) providing receptionist duties;
(3) providing clerical, technical, and professional support;
(4) providing office representation at essential meetings;
(5) handling inquiries from the public; and
(6) providing program needs based on business necessity.

b. When the supervisor establishes coverage requirements, all employees are obliged to meet the coverage requirements. The determination of who will work which particular hours to ensure such coverage is within the authority of the supervisor. Where practicable, personal preference will be honored in scheduling coverage. Where personal preference conflicts with the equitable sharing of the burden of coverage, personal preference shall give way. These requirements will remain in full force and effect until altered, amended, or revised. While the official daily tour of duty shall be an 81⁄2-hour day, Monday through Friday, overall coverage requirements for an office may be in excess of the 81⁄2-hour tour of duty, as determined by Management.

Section 8. Abuse

a. If an employee abuses his/her flexible schedule, Management may remove the employee from participation in a flexible schedule.
b. Removal from a flexible schedule for abuse is not a disciplinary action, and does not preclude other action by the employer within its authorities to effect disciplinary action including removal from employment.
c. Normally employees will be given notice before being removed from a flexible schedule.

Section 9. Hours of Work

a. Basic Workweek: The basic or standard workweek normally consists of five (5) consecutive days, Monday through Friday, operating under conventional fixed work schedules, flexible work schedules, compressed work schedules, standby status, or first-40 hour workweek.
b. Reporting Hours: All employees shall report and record all hours worked and not worked during the basic workweek, as well as all authorized or approved overtime or compensatory time during or outside the standard workweek, in the Department’s electronic time and attendance system. The Department’s time and attendance system is not merely for reporting and recording of flexible work schedules, but is required for all work schedules as they relate to pay administration.
c. Standard Workday: The basic non-overtime workday will not exceed an 81⁄2-hour tour of duty, including time for a lunch break.
d. Lunch Break: For all schedules operating within the basic workweek, the time period for employees to take their lunch break is between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. That is, the lunch break will begin no earlier than 11:00 a.m. and must be concluded no later than 2:00 p.m. All employees are required to take a lunch break.