5 C.F.R. Subpart D—Hours of Work
Title 5 - Administrative Personnel
Title 5: Administrative Personnel
PART 551—PAY ADMINISTRATION UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT
Subpart D—Hours of Work
Source: 45 FR 85664, Dec. 30, 1980, unless otherwise noted.
General Provisions
§ 551.401 Basic principles.
(a) All time spent by an employee performing an activity for the benefit of an agency and under the control or direction of the agency is “hours of work.” Such time includes:
(1) Time during which an employee is required to be on duty;
(2) Time during which an employee is suffered or permitted to work; and
(3) Waiting time or idle time which is under the control of an agency and which is for the benefit of an agency.
(b) For an employee, as defined in 5 U.S.C. 5541(2), hours in a paid nonwork status (e.g., paid leave, holidays, compensatory time off, or excused absences) are “hours of work” under this part.
(c) Hours in an unpaid nonwork status (e.g., leave without pay, furlough, absence without leave) are not “hours of work” under this part.
(d) Time that is considered hours of work under this part shall be used only to determine an employee's entitlement to minimum wages or overtime pay under the Act, and shall not be used to determine hours of work for pay administration under title 5, United States Code, or any other authority.
(e) Irregular or occasional overtime work performed by an employee on a day on which work was not scheduled for that employee or for which the employee is required to return to his or her place of employment is deemed at least 2 hours in duration for the purpose of determining whether the employee may be entitled to overtime pay under this part, either in money or compensatory time off.
(f) For the purpose of determining hours of work in excess of 8 hours in a day under this part, agencies shall credit hours of work under §410.402 of this chapter, part 532 of this chapter and 5 U.S.C. 5544, and part 550 of this chapter, as applicable.
(g) For the purpose of determining hours of work in excess of 40 hours in a week or in excess of another applicable overtime work standard under section 7(k) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, agencies shall credit hours of work under §410.402 of this chapter, part 532 of this chapter and 5 U.S.C. 5544, and part 550 of this chapter, as applicable, that will not be compensated as hours of work in excess of 8 hours in a day, as well as any additional hours of work under this part.
(h) For the purpose of determining overtime pay for work in excess of 40 hours in a workweek under this part, time spent in a travel status is hours of work as provided in §551.422 of this part and §550.112(g) of this chapter or 5 U.S.C. 5544, as applicable.
[45 FR 85664, Dec. 30, 1980, as amended at 52 FR 47687, Dec. 16, 1987, and 53 FR 27147, July 19, 1988; 56 FR 20343, May 3, 1991; 57 FR 59279, Dec. 15, 1992; 64 FR 69180, Dec. 10, 1999]
§ 551.402 Agency responsibility.
(a) An agency is responsible for exercising appropriate controls to assure that only that work for which it intends to make payment is performed.
(b) An agency shall keep complete and accurate records of all hours worked by its employees.
Application of Principles in Relation to Normal Workday
§ 551.411 Workday.
(a) For the purposes of this part, workday means the period between the commencement of the principal activities that an employee is engaged to perform on a given day, and the cessation of the principal activities for that day. All time spent by an employee in the performance of such activities is hours of work. The workday is not limited to a calendar day or any other 24-hour period.
(b) Any rest period authorized by an agency that does not exeed 20 minutes and that is within the workday shall be considered hours of work.
(c) Bona fide meal periods are not considered hours of work, except for on-duty meal periods for employees engaged in fire protection or law enforcement activities who receive compensation for overtime hours of work under 5 U.S.C. 5545(c)(1) or (2) or 5545b. However, for employees engaged in fire protection or law enforcement activities who have periods of duty of more than 24 hours, on-duty meal periods may be excluded from hours of work by agreement between the employer and the employee, except as provided in §551.432(e) and (f).
[45 FR 85664, Dec. 30, 1980, as amended at 48 FR 36805, Aug. 15, 1983; 57 FR 59279, Dec. 15, 1992; 67 FR 15467, Apr. 2, 2002]
§ 551.412 Preparatory or concluding activities.
(a)(1) If an agency reasonably determines that a preparatory or concluding activity is closely related to an employee's principal activities, and is indispensable to the performance of the principal activities, and that the total time spent in that activity is more than 10 minutes per workday, the agency shall credit all of the time spent in that activity, including the 10 minutes, as hours of work.
(2) If the time spent in a preparatory or concluding activity is compensable as hours of work, the agency shall schedule the time period for the employee to perform that activity. An employee shall be credited with the actual time spent in that activity during the time period scheduled by the agency. In no case shall the time credited for the performance of an activity exceed the time scheduled by the agency. The employee shall be credited for the time spent performing preparatory or concluding activities in accordance with paragraph (b) of §551.521 of this part.
(b) A preparatory or concluding activity that is not closely related to the performance of the principal activities is considered a preliminary or postliminary activity. Time spent in preliminary or postliminary activities is excluded from hours of work and is not compensable, even if it occurs between periods of activity that are compensable as hours of work.
[48 FR 36805, Aug. 15, 1983]
Application of Principles in Relation to Other Activities
§ 551.421 Regular working hours.
(a) Under the Act there is no requirement that a Federal employee have a regularly scheduled administrative workweek. However, under title 5 United States Code, and part 610 of this chapter, the head of an agency is required to establish work schedules for his or her employees. In determining what activities constitute hours of work under the Act, there is generally a distinction based on whether the activity is performed by an employee during regular working hours or outside regular working hours. For purposes of this part, “regular working hours” means the days and hours of an employee's regularly scheduled administrative workweek established under part 610 of this chapter.
(b) [Reserved]
[45 FR 85664, Dec. 30, 1980, as amended at 48 FR 36806, Aug. 15, 1983]
§ 551.422 Time spent traveling.
(a) Time spent traveling shall be considered hours of work if:
(1) An employee is required to travel during regular working hours;
(2) An employee is required to drive a vehicle or perform other work while traveling;
(3) An employee is required to travel as a passenger on a one-day assignment away from the official duty station; or
(4) An employee is required to travel as a passenger on an overnight assignment away from the official duty station during hours on nonworkdays that correspond to the employee's regular working hours.
(b) An employee who travels from home before the regular workday begins and returns home at the end of the workday is engaged in normal “home to work” travel; such travel is not hours of work. When an employee travels directly from home to a temporary duty location outside the limits of his or her official duty station, the time the employee would have spent in normal home to work travel shall be deducted from hours of work as specified in paragraphs (a)(2) and (a)(3) of this section.
(c) An employee who is offered one mode of transportation, and who is permitted to use an alternative mode of transportation, or an employee who travels at a time other than that selected by the agency, shall be credited with the lesser of:
(1) The actual travel time which is hours of work under this section; or
(2) The estimated travel time which would have been considered hours of work under this section had the employee used the mode of transportation offered by the agency, or traveled at the time selected by the agency.
(d) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, an agency may prescribe a mileage radius of not greater than 50 miles to determine whether an employee's travel is within or outside the limits of the employee's official duty station for determining entitlement to overtime pay for travel under this part. However, an agency's definition of an employee's official duty station for determining overtime pay for travel may not be smaller than the definition of “official station and post of duty” under the Federal Travel Regulation issued by the General Services Administration (41 CFR 301–1.3(c)(4)).
[45 FR 85664, Dec. 30, 1980, as amended at 59 FR 66635, Dec. 28, 1994]
§ 551.423 Time spent in training or attending a lecture, meeting, or conference.
(a) Time spent in training, whether or not it is under the purview of part 410 of this chapter, shall be administered as follows:
(1) Time spent in training during regular working hours shall be considered hours of work.
(2) Time spent in training outside regular working hours shall be considered hours of work if:
(i) The employee is directed to participate in the training by his or her employing agency; and
(ii) The purpose of the training is to improve the employee's performance of the duties and responsibilities of his or her current position.
(3) Time spent in apprenticeship or other entry level training, or internship or other career related work study training, or training under the Veterans Recruitment Act (5 CFR part 307) outside regular working hours shall not be considered hours of work, provided no productive work is performed during such periods, except as provided by §410.402(b) of this chapter and paragraphs (f) and (g) of §551.401.
(4) Time spent by an employee performing work for the agency during a period of training shall be considered hours of work.
(b) The following phrases contained in paragraph (a) of this section, are further clarified:
(1) Directed to participate means that the training is required by the agency and the employee's performance or continued retention in his or her current position will be adversely affected by nonenrollment in such training. The fact that an agency pays for all or part of the expenses of training does not create an entitlement to overtime hours of work unless participation in the training is directed by the agency.
(2) Training “to improve the employee's performance * * * of his or her current position” is distinguished from upward mobility training or developmental training to provide an employee the knowledge or skills needed for a subsequent position in the same career field.
(c) Time spent by an employee within an agency's allowance of preparatory time for attendance at training shall be considered hours of work if such preparatory time is:
(1) During an employee's regular working hours; or
(2) Outside the employee's regular working hours, and the purpose of the training meets the requirements of paragraph (a)(2) of this section.
(d) Time spent attending a lecture, meeting, or conference shall be considered hours of work if attendance is:
(1) During an employee's regular working hours; or
(2) Outside an employee's regular working hours, and
(i) The employee is directed by an agency to attend such an event; or
(ii) The employee performs work for the benefit of the agency during such attendance.
[45 FR 85664, Dec. 30, 1980, as amended at 64 FR 69180, Dec. 10, 1999; 70 FR 72068, Dec. 1, 2005]
§ 551.424 Time spent adjusting grievances or performing representational functions.
(a) Time spent by an employee adjusting his or her grievance (or any appealable action) with an agency during the time the employee is required to be on the agency's premises shall be considered hours of work.
(b) “Official time” granted an employee by an agency to perform representational functions during those hours when the employee is otherwise in a duty status shall be considered hours of work. This includes time spent by an employee performing such functions during regular working hours (including regularly scheduled overtime hours), or during a period of irregular, unscheduled overtime work, provided an event arises incident to representational functions that must be dealt with during the irregular, unscheduled overtime period.
§ 551.425 Time spent receiving medical attention.
(a) Time spent waiting for and receiving medical attention for illness or injury shall be considered hours of work if:
(1) The medical attention is required on a workday an employee reported for duty and subsequently became ill or was injured;
(2) The time spent receiving medical attention occurs during the employee's regular working hours; and
(3) The employee receives the medical attention on the agency's premises, or at the direction of the agency at a medical facility away from the agency's premises.
(b) Time spent taking a physical examination that is required for the employee's continued employment with the agency shall be considered hours of work.
§ 551.426 Time spent in charitable activities.
Time spent working for public or charitable purposes at an agency's request, or under an agency's direction or control, shall be considered hours of work. However, time spent voluntarily in such activities outside an employee's regular working hours is not hours of work.
Special Situations
§ 551.431 Time spent on standby duty or in an on-call status.
(a)(1) An employee is on duty, and time spent on standby duty is hours of work if, for work-related reasons, the employee is restricted by official order to a designated post of duty and is assigned to be in a state of readiness to perform work with limitations on the employee's activities so substantial that the employee cannot use the time effectively for his or her own purposes. A finding that an employee's activities are substantially limited may not be based on the fact that an employee is subject to restrictions necessary to ensure that the employee will be able to perform his or her duties and responsibilities, such as restrictions on alcohol consumption or use of certain medications.
(2) An employee is not considered restricted for “work-related reasons” if, for example, the employee remains at the post of duty voluntarily, or if the restriction is a natural result of geographic isolation or the fact that the employee resides on the agency's premises. For example, in the case of an employee assigned to work in a remote wildland area or on a ship, the fact that the employee has limited mobility when relieved from duty would not be a basis for finding that the employee is restricted for work-related reasons.
(b) An employee will be considered off duty and time spent in an on-call status shall not be considered hours of work if:
(1) The employee is allowed to leave a telephone number or to carry an electronic device for the purpose of being contacted, even though the employee is required to remain within a reasonable call-back radius; or
(2) The employee is allowed to make arrangements such that any work which may arise during the on-call period will be performed by another person.
[45 FR 85664, Dec. 30, 1980, as amended at 64 FR 69180, Dec. 10, 1999]
§ 551.432 Sleep time.
(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, bona fide sleep time that fulfills the following conditions shall not be considered hours of work if:
(1) The work shift is 24 hours or more;
(2) During such time there are adequate facilities such that an employee may usually enjoy an uninterrupted period of sleep; and
(3) There are at least 5 hours available for such time during the sleep period.
(b) For employees engaged in law enforcement or fire protection activities who receive annual premium pay under 5 U.S.C. 5545(c)(1) or (2), the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section apply, except that on-duty sleep time may be excluded from hours of work only if the work shift is more than 24 hours.
(c) The total amount of bona fide sleep and meal time that may be excluded from hours of work may not exceed 8 hours in a 24-hour period.
(d) If sleep time is interrupted by a call to duty, the time spent on duty is considered hours of work.
(e) On-duty sleep and meal time during regularly scheduled hours for which standby duty premium pay under 5 U.S.C. 5545(c)(1) is payable may not be excluded from hours of work.
(f) For firefighters compensated under 5 U.S.C. 5545b, on-duty sleep and meal time may not be excluded from hours of work.
[45 FR 85664, Dec. 30, 1980, as amended at 57 FR 59279, Dec. 15, 1992; 64 FR 69180, Dec. 10, 1999]
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