Office of the General Counsel
Date: November 16, 1998
Matter of: [xxx]
File Number: S001579
OPM Contact: Murray M. Meeker
The claimant, a part-time employee with the [xxx] in [xxx], has
submitted two issues for review: (1) Are part-time employees
entitled to holiday pay when [xxx] is closed on the employees'
regularly scheduled workday, e.g., when [xxx] 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
[xxx] 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 DeCA employees
who often work the same number of days, but fewer hours, is not
changed and remains Tuesday through Saturday.
The [agency] 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.
[agency] Directive [xxx] 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 nonovertime 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.