(a) Employees engaged in fire protection or law enforcement
activities as described in Secs. 553.210 and 553.211, may also engage in
some nonexempt work which is not performed as an incident to or in
conjunction with their fire protection or law enforcement activities.
For example, firefighters who work for forest conservation agencies may,
during slack times, plant trees and perform other conservation
activities unrelated to their firefighting duties. The performance of
such nonexempt work will not defeat either the section 13(b)(20) or 7(k)
exemptions unless it exceeds 20 percent of the total hours worked by
that employee during the workweek or applicable work period. A person
who spends more than 20 percent of his/her working time in nonexempt
activities is not considered to be an employee engaged in fire
protection or law enforcement activities for purposes of this part.
(b) Public agency fire protection and law enforcement personnel may,
at their own option, undertake employment for the same employer on an
occasional or sporadic and part-time basis in a different capacity from
their regular employment. (See Sec. 553.30.) The
performance of such work does not affect the application of the section
13(b)(20) or 7(k) exemptions with respect to the regular employment. In
addition, the hours of work in the different capacity need not be
counted as hours worked for overtime purposes on the regular job, nor
are such hours counted in determining the 20 percent tolerance for
nonexempt work discussed in paragraph (a) of this section.
