• Introduction
• Definitions
• Authority and Responsibilities
• Scope
• Exceptions
• Policy/Guidance
• Procedures for Establishing Alternative Work Schedules
• Procedures for Terminating Alternative Work Schedules
• Special Provisions for Time Accounting
• Changes in Payroll Procedures and Personnel Policies
• Seasonal Schedules
• Flexible Work Schedules (FWS)
• Compressed Work Schedules (CWS)
• APPENDIX A. Comparison of Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules
• APPENDIX B. Models of Flexible Work Schedules
• APPENDIX C. Models of Compressed Work Schedules
• APPENDIX D. Flexifinder

Compressed Work Schedules (CWS)

a. Basic Work Requirement

The basic work requirement of a compressed work schedule is the number of hours, excluding overtime hours, an employee is required to work or to account for by charging leave or otherwise:

(1) A full-time employee is required to work 80 hours in a biweekly pay period. This work must be scheduled for fewer than 10 days in a biweekly pay period. (See 5 U.S.C. 6121(5)(A).)

(2) A part-time employee works fewer than 80 hours in a biweekly pay period. This work must be scheduled for fewer than 10 workdays in a biweekly pay period. (See 5 U.S.C. 6121(5)(B).)

b. Tour of Duty

The tour of duty for employees under a CWS program is defined by a fixed schedule established by the agency. See the definition of "compressed schedule" in 5 U.S.C. 6121(5), which states that the basic work requirement is scheduled for less than 10 work days. Also, see the definition of "regularly scheduled" in 5 CFR 610.102.

Compressed work schedules are arranged to enable employees to fulfill their basic work requirements in less than 10 days during the biweekly pay period. (Examples of these schedules may be found in Appendix C.) Although agencies may change or stagger the arrival and departure times of employees, there are no provisions for employee flexibility in reporting or quitting times under a CWS program.

Note: Compressed work schedules are always fixed schedules. (See B-179810, Comptroller General's Report to the House Subcommittee on Compensation and Employee Benefits, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, pg. 2, footnote 1, December 4, 1979. Also, see the definition of "compressed schedule" in 5 U.S.C. 6121(5) and 50 FLRA No. 28, February 23, 1995. )

c. Credit Hours

There is no legal authority for credit hours under a CWS program. The law provides for credit hours only for flexible work schedules. See 5 U.S.C. 6121(4).

d. Overtime Work

For a full-time employee under a CWS program who is exempt from the FLSA, overtime hours are all officially ordered and approved hours of work in excess of the compressed work schedule. For a full-time employee who is covered by the FLSA (non-exempt), overtime hours also include any hours worked outside the compressed work schedule that are "suffered or permitted." For a part-time employee, overtime hours are hours in excess of the compressed work schedule for a day (but must be more than 8 hours) or for a week (but must be more than 40 hours).

e. Compensatory Time Off

Employee requests for compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay may be approved only for irregular or occasional overtime work by an employee (as defined in 5 U.S.C. 5541(2)) or by a prevailing rate employee (as defined in 5 U.S.C. 5342(a)(2)). Compensatory time off may not be approved for an SES member. Mandatory compensatory time off is limited to FLSA-exempt employees (who are not prevailing rate employees) whose rate of basic pay is greater than the rate for GS-10, step 10, and only in lieu of overtime pay for irregular or occasional overtime work. See 5 U.S.C. 5543(a)(2).

f. Night Pay (General Schedule and Other Employees Covered by 5 U.S.C. 5545(a))

The regular rules under 5 U.S.C. 5545(a) and 5 CFR 550.121 and 122 apply. An employee is entitled to night pay for regularly scheduled nightwork performed between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

g. Night Differential (Prevailing Rate Employees)

The regular rules under 5 U.S.C. 5343(f) apply in determining the majority of hours for entitlement to night pay for prevailing rate employees.

h. Holiday Pay (When No Work Is Performed)

(1) A full-time employee on a CWS who is relieved or prevented from working on a day designated as a holiday (or an "in lieu of" holiday under 5 U.S.C. 6103(b) or (d) or section 3 of E.O. 11582) by Federal statute or Executive order is entitled to his or her rate of basic pay for the number of hours of the compressed work schedule on that day. (See 5 CFR 610.406(a).)

(2) If a holiday falls on a day during a part-time employee's scheduled tour of duty and the employee is relieved or prevented from working on that day, the employee is entitled to his or her rate of basic pay for the number of hours he or she normally would have been scheduled to work that day. (See 5 CFR 610.406(b).)

(3) Determining "in Lieu of" Holidays when Holidays Fall on Nonworkdays

(i) Nonworkdays Other than Sunday. Except as provided in subparagraphs (ii) and (iii) below, if a holiday falls on a nonworkday of the employee, the employee's preceding workday will be the designated "in lieu of" holiday. (See 5 U.S.C. 6103(b).)

(ii) Sunday Nonworkday. Except as provided in subparagraph (iii) below, if the holiday falls on the Sunday nonworkday of an employee, the subsequent workday will be the employee's designated "in lieu of" holiday. (See section 3 of E.O. 11582.)

(iii) Agency rules. Under 5 U.S.C. 6103(d), the head of an agency may prescribe rules under which a different "in lieu of" holiday is designated than would be required under 5 U.S.C. 6103(b), E.O. 11582, or the terms of any collective bargaining agreement, for full-time employees on compressed work schedules when the head of an agency determines that a different "in lieu of" holiday is necessary to prevent an "adverse agency impact." The term "adverse agency impact" is defined in 5 U.S.C. 6131(b).

(iv) Under its authority to determine the administrative workweek (5 CFR 610.111), an agency may change an employee's schedule (and scheduled days off) for operational reasons. Schedule changes must be documented and communicated to employees in advance of the start of an administrative workweek except when the criteria in 5 CFR 610.121(a) apply. (Also, see 5 CFR 610.121(b)(2).)

i. Pay for Holiday Work

(1) A full-time employee under a CWS program who performs nonovertime work on a holiday (or a day designated as the "in lieu of" holiday under 5 U.S.C. 6103(b) or (d) or section 3 of E.O. 11582) is entitled to basic pay plus premium pay equal to his or her rate of basic pay for the work that is not in excess of the employee's compressed work schedule for that day. (See 5 CFR 610.407.)

Note: Since CWS schedules are fixed schedules, employees must not be required to move their regularly scheduled days off solely to avoid payment of holiday premium pay or to reduce the number of holiday hours included in the basic work requirement. See 5 U.S.C. 6101(a)(3)(E).

(2) A part-time employee under a CWS program is entitled to holiday premium pay only for work performed during his or her compressed work schedule on a holiday. A part-time employee scheduled to work on a day designated as an "in lieu of" holiday for full-time employees is not entitled to holiday premium pay for work performed on that day, since part-time employees are not entitled to "in lieu of" holidays. (See 5 CFR 610.406(b).)

j. Pay for Sunday Work

(1) A full-time employee who performs nonovertime work during a tour of duty, a part of which is performed on Sunday, is entitled to Sunday premium pay for his or her entire tour of duty on that day. (See 5 U.S.C. 6128(c).)

(2) A part-time employee is not entitled to premium pay for Sunday work. (See 5 U.S.C. 5546(a) and 46 Comptroller General 337 (1966).)

k. Paid Time Off

Paid time off during an employee's basic work requirement must be charged to sick or annual leave unless the employee used other paid leave or accumulated compensatory time off, or unless excused absence is approved.

l. Excused Absence

The head of an agency may grant excused absence with pay to employees covered by a CWS program under the same circumstances as excused absence would be granted to employees covered by other work schedules.

m. Temporary Duty

When an employee covered by a CWS program is assigned to a temporary duty station using another work schedule--either traditional or AWS--the agency may allow the employee to continue to use the schedule used at his or her permanent work site (if suitable) or require the employee to change the schedule to conform to operations at the temporary work site.

n. Travel

(1) When an Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)-exempt or nonexempt employee under a CWS program is in a travel status during the hours of his or her regularly scheduled administrative workweek, including regularly scheduled overtime hours, that time is considered to be hours of work and must be used for the purpose of overtime pay calculations, as applicable. Note, however, that overtime hours are initially scheduled for work, not travel.

(2) For employees under a CWS program, "regularly scheduled administrative workweek" means the compressed work schedule applicable to an employee and any regularly scheduled overtime work. An agency must also determine the number of corresponding hours for an employee on a nonworkday for the purpose of determining hours of work for travel under the FLSA overtime provisions in 5 CFR 551.422(a)(4). For this purpose, agencies may apply the guidance under "Excused Absence," above. Also, see 5 CFR 610.111(d).

(3) For FLSA-exempt employees under compressed work schedules, hours of work for time spent in a travel status outside the regularly scheduled administrative workweek and away from the official duty station is determined in accordance with 5 CFR 550.112(g) or 5 U.S.C. 5544 (for prevailing rate employees). For nonexempt employees, the total number of hours of work for travel outside the regularly scheduled administrative workweek and away from the official duty station is determined by applying both 5 CFR 550.112(g) or 5 U.S.C. 5544 and 5 CFR 551.422. (See 5 CFR 551.401(h).)

(4) An agency may require an employee to follow a traditional fixed schedule (8 hours a day and 40 hours a week) during pay periods he or she travels.

o. Application of Compressed Work Schedules in Unorganized Units:

(1) Under 5 U.S.C. 6127, a compressed work schedule may not be established in an unorganized unit unless a majority of employees in the organization who would be included vote to be included. For purposes of this vote, a majority is obtained when the number of affirmative votes exceeds 50 percent of the number of employees and supervisors in the organization proposed for inclusion in a compressed work schedule. (If participation in the CWS program is voluntary for each employee, a vote is unnecessary because employees who elect not to participate are not included and are unaffected.)

(2) In organizations in which employees are exclusively represented by a labor organization, but in which certain employees (e.g., personnelists) are excluded from the bargaining unit, only those employees in the unit are bound by the terms of negotiations establishing a CWS program. Employees in the organization not in the unit are entitled to vote for or against inclusion in the schedule. All employees who would be affected by the outcome should have an opportunity to cast a vote, and the outcome of the vote is binding upon all employees except those exempted by management because of personal hardship.

p. Determining Hardships Under Compressed Work Schedules

(1) Section 6127(b)(2) of title 5, United States Code, requires that any employee for whom a compressed work schedule would impose a personal hardship be excluded from the schedule or be reassigned. Each agency should have a procedure for an employee to request exclusion from a CWS based on personal hardship. The agency must determine whether the CWS imposes a personal hardship.

(2) Both the law and its legislative history are silent with respect to the definition of "personal hardship." However, agencies should be sensitive to the possibility that a CWS could have an adverse effect on certain employees, particularly disabled employees and those who are responsible for the care of disabled family members or dependent children. Depending on the facts and circumstances in the individual case, other valid personal hardship situations may occur that could be grounds for excusing an employee from working under a CWS program.

q. Appeals to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC)

(1) Section 6132 of title 5, United States Code, protects an employee against coercion when voting for or against inclusion of his or her work unit in a CWS program and affirms the right of the employee to request, because of hardship, not to participate in a CWS program. (Also see 5 U.S.C. 6127(b).)

(2) Employees may contact the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to file a complaint regarding allegations of coercion prohibited by 5 U.S.C. 6132. Violations of 5 U.S.C. 6132 are subject to investigation by the Special Counsel.

Negotiating Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules   |   Compensation Administration