Office of the General Counsel
Date: November 16, 1998
Matter of: [xxx]
File Number: s9800535
OPM Contact: Murray M. Meeker
The claimant, a part-time employee with the [agency] in [xxx],
has submitted two issues for review: (1) Are part-time employees
entitled to holiday pay when the [agency] is closed on the
employees' regularly scheduled workday, e.g., when the [agency] is
closed on the Tuesday following a Monday holiday; and (2) Should
part-time employees who work more hours than are prescribed in
their normal work schedule and who take leave during a temporary
schedule be charged leave for the additional hours that they do not
work?
When a federal holiday is on a Monday, it is common practice for
the [agency] to change its full-time employees' work schedules in
order to maximize customer service and to avoid the costs
associated with paying holiday premium pay on the preceding
workday, typically a Saturday. The work schedule for full time
employees is changed from Tuesday through Saturday to Monday and
Wednesday through Saturday. As a consequence of this rescheduling,
Monday, the federal holiday, becomes a non-workday and Tuesday
becomes a day off for full-time employees. However, the work
schedule for part-time [agency] employees who often work the same
number of days, but fewer hours, is not changed and remains Tuesday
through Saturday.
Defense Department guidance provides that:
[W]hen part-time employees are prevented from working on an
in-lieu-of holiday [Tuesday], because their place of employment is
closed in observance of a holiday, they are not entitled to pay
without charge to leave. These employees may be required to take
annual leave. As an alternative to annual leave, a part-time
employee's work schedule can be changed to allow the employee to
work another day within the administrative work week.
DeCA Directive (DeCAD) 70-9, dated July 26, 1996.
Each agency is responsible for managing its work operations and
for scheduling the work of its employees. 5 U.S.C. 301, 6101(a),
and 7106(a). Therefore, if an agency closes an agency installation
and, as a result, part-time employees are prevented from working on
their regularly scheduled workday, such employees may be required
to take annual leave. See 19 Comp. Gen. 955 (1940). More
specifically, although part-time employees may be granted
administrative leave on an in-lieu holiday, they are not entitled
to in-lieu-of holidays or to holiday pay for in-lieu-of holidays.
63 Comp. Gen. 306 (1984).
The number of hours that an employee is in a pay status is
dependent on the number of hours actually scheduled, regardless of
the employee's normal hours or the number of hours indicated on the
employee's appointment document. See 18 Comp. Gen. 457 (1938)
and 16 Comp. Gen. 442 (1936). A part-time employee may request and
be charged leave for any hours in the employee's regularly
scheduled administrative workweek. See 5 C.F.R. 550.103 and
610.121(b)(1) (defining "regularly scheduled administrative
workweek" as an administrative workweek scheduled in advance and
corresponding to the employee's actual work requirements). Thus,
notwithstanding the employee's appointment document, the employee's
leave may be scheduled and should be charged for any nonovertime
hours that the employee is unable to work during the scheduled
workweek, as long as the work schedule is established in advance of
the workweek.
While an agency may schedule 24-hour workweeks that would enable
an employee to use previously scheduled leave, the agency may
choose to schedule non-overtime work in excess of the hours on the
employee's appointment document for any pay period, and under that
circumstance, the employee would be required to work or to take
leave to fulfill the employee's work requirement.
Accordingly, part-time employees are not entitled to holiday pay
when the agency is closed on the employee's regularly scheduled
workday and part-time employees who work more hours than prescribed
in their normal work schedule and who take leave on that day may be
charged leave for the additional non-overtime hours that they do
not work.
This settlement is final. No further administrative review is
available within OPM. Nothing in this settlement limits the
employee's right to bring an action in an appropriate United States
Court.