Personnel
Work Schedules/Timekeeping/Classified Employees (6.40)
PURPOSE
The purpose of this policy is to establish uniform guidelines
for the scheduling of work hours and maintaining time records.
POLICY
It is the policy of Tennessee State University that all employees
are required to adhere to prescribed work schedules as specified
within these guidelines.
PROCEDURE
Regular Work Schedules
A. Regular working hours for most employees are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30
p.m., Monday through Friday with one hour for lunch. This schedule
provides for 7.5 duty hours per day or 37.5 hours per week. There
are approved exceptions where employees in some areas are hired
for 40 hours per week and in some instances are on call during
their lunch period. A grace period of six minutes will be allowed
upon arrival or departure from the work site.
B. When an employee is required to work a schedule other than
those described in A., the employee's work schedule should be
revised so as not to exceed the maximum regularly scheduled (37.5
or 40.0) hours during the work week.
C. Employees shall perform approved overtime work when such work
is scheduled at least 24 hours in advance. Scheduled overtime
will be treated as any other work time with regard to unapproved
absence. Additionally employees may be asked to extend their work
days in order to respond to weather related problems or other
unforeseen problems arising near the end of the work period.
Special Schedules Service Areas
A. The officials designated below will establish work schedules
for their departments within the framework of 37.5 (or 40.0 hours
where approved for exception) per week in order to provide services
to the public and the University Community:
1. Director of Physical Plant
2. Director of Safety and Security
3. Director of Libraries and Media Resources
B. All employees of service areas must provide their supervisors
with telephone contact numbers for use in case of emergencies
or other scheduling problems.
Other Special Services
All classified employees are required to conform to the working
hours indicated in items above. Requests for deviations from these
schedules must be submitted in writing to the vice president of
the area.
Lunch Breaks
A one hour lunch period will be provided in the above schedule
at a time established by department and activity heads, unless
otherwise designated by the department head for specific service
areas.
Rest Periods
Employees may be given a rest period of fifteen minutes each half
day, work load permitting, as scheduled by department heads or
supervisors. Rest periods are considered work time for pay purposes.
Employees may not accumulate unused rest periods, nor are rest
periods considered as employee's right.
Compensatory Time and Overtime
A. As a condition of employment, classified personnel agree to
accept compensatory time off as payment for hours worked in addition
to their regularly scheduled hours in lieu of overtime pay.
B. Working more than 37.5 hours (or 40.0 hours where approved
for exception) per week is not authorized without advance approval
of the appropriate Vice President and the President.
C. The regular work week for calculating pay and overtime begins
at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday and ends at midnight on Saturday.
D. Compensatory time for hours worked in excess of 37.5 will be
handled as follows:
1. Compensatory time granted for hours worked between 37.5 and
40.0 will be at straight time (1.0 hour for 1.0 hour).
2. Compensatory time granted for hours worked over 40.0 will be
at time and onehalf (1.5 hours for each 1.0 hour).
3. Compensatory time not taken during the pay month in which it
was earned will be banked, up to a maximum accumulation of 240
hours. Compensatory time hours must be recorded on the official
University Time Report.
4. Banked compensatory time is to be used before annual leave
is used.
5. Banked compensatory time will be paid upon termination of the
employee; however, an official record of Compensatory Time must
be provided as earned and maintained by the Personnel Office.
E. In approved circumstances payment for overtime work will be
made. These payments will be made at the straight time rate for
hours worked in excess of 37.5 hours and up to 40.0 hours per
week; premium rate overtime (one and onehalf times the regular
rate of pay) will be paid from hours worked in excess of 40.0
per week.
F. Hours worked on official holidays will be paid as premium rate
overtime (time and onehalf). Employees who are required
to work on official University holidays will be granted an equal
amount of time off without charge to leave.
G. For purposes of calculating compensatory time and overtime,
holiday hours will be treated as hours worked. Hours taken as
annual leave, sick leave, bereavement leave, etc., do not count
as hours worked.
Emergency Call Back
A minimum of three hours will be paid to employees who are called
back to work for emergency reasons (equipment failures, etc.)
at times other than their regular work hours. Such emergency call
back should not be confused with work scheduled in advance for
normal nonduty hours or days.
In the event that an employee is called back and provided the
employee works a 40 hour work week, premium rate overtime payment
will be made in accordance with overtime provisions.
OnCall Time
A. Employees may be scheduled for oncall time so that personnel
will be available to provide repairs and/or services during normal
offduty hours. An employee on call may come and go freely
but must leave a telephone number where he/she can be reached
or carry a pager furnished by the University. When reached, the
employee is expected to report to work. Employees are not paid
for oncall time. If called in, the employee will be compensated
as outlined above.
B. The above does not preclude calling in additional employees
who are not oncall.
Work Time Defined
Work time or "hours worked" is all the time an employee
"is suffered or permitted to work." It is of no consequence
where such work takes place (i.e., in the customary workplace
or at home) so long as the work is officially scheduled and approved
and time records are approved by the employee's supervisor. Prior
approval for work to be done outside the customary workplace must
be given by the Vice President.
Work time includes most activities related to preparing for and
"clean up" after performance of the employee's principal
duties. Other examples of work time include setting up equipment,
sharpening or cleaning tools, waiting for instructions, moving
about the campus to perform assigned duties, attending departmental
meetings, receiving emergency medical treatment for an onthejob
accident and other similar work related activities.
Controlling Work Time
A. Department Head
Each department head is responsible for exercising adequate supervision
to ensure that employees are complying with established work schedules.
The mere establishment or communication of work schedules does
not relieve the department head of responsibility for controlling
work time. The department head must ascertain and ensure that
all schedules are followed by the employee.
The department head is responsible for controlling starting and
stopping times and all work time, whether within or outside the
usual work schedule.
B. Employee
It is the employee's duty to comply with departmental work schedules
and to avoid performing work that is "unscheduled" or
"nondirected" outside of such schedules.
It is a violation of the Fair labor Standards Act for employees
to work approved overtime without being given compensatory time
or overtime pay. It is the employee's responsibility to immediately
report violations of wage and hour laws to the Personnel Office.
Recording Work Time
A. Work time must be recorded exactly the way it is worked, as
to date and amount. "Doctoring" or otherwise falsifying
time records clearly violates the Fair Labor Standards Act and
University policy.
B. Some examples of practices which are prohibited include but
are not limited to the following:
1. Recording only time worked on the premises while permitting
the employee to take work home for which no work time is recorded
2. Permitting employees to work while presumably taking a meal
period and recording such time as hours worked.
3. Permitting employees to arrive "early " and perform
work or leave "late" and perform work without recording
it.
4. Permitting an employee to leave early on a day in one work
week and permitting the employee to report early, stay late or
work during meal periods, as "make up" in another work
week, without recording the "short" work time or the
overtime work.
5. Permitting employees to record only as much work time as the
departmental budget will permit, without respect to the actual
time worked.
REFERENCE
Reference to TBR Policy No. 5:01:00:10
Supersedes "Work Schedules and Time Keeping for Classified
Employees" Policy No. 5:17 in the UniversityWide Policy
Manual