Compensatory Leave

USPS and non-exempt TEAMS employees are eligible to earn compensatory leave in certain situations.

Upon reasonable notice, supervisors or other appropriate University of Florida administrators may require employees to use any part of accrued overtime, special, or regular compensatory leave at any time deemed advisable. Employees who have accrued compensatory leave may be required to use such leave before using vacation leave.

There are three types of compensatory leave: overtime compensatory leave, regular compensatory leave, and special compensatory leave. The maximum accrual rate is 120 hours for both regular and overtime compensatory leave.

Overtime Compensation

Non-exempt (hourly) USPS and TEAMS employees are either paid for overtime work or are compensated with overtime compensatory leave – if agreed upon by the employee and the department before overtime is worked. Overtime is defined as work that is required beyond 40 hours in the workweek. Paid leave such as vacation or sick time is not included in the calculation. Cash payment for purposes of overtime compensation is on the basis of one and one-half times an employee’s regular hourly rate of pay for each hour of overtime worked.

If the employee agrees to accrue overtime compensatory leave as an alternative to payment, he or she may be credited with up to 120 hours of overtime compensatory leave–that is, 80 hours of overtime worked on the basis of one and one-half hours of leave for each hour worked. Please note: The actual number of hours worked is reported using the myUFL systems. The conversion to one and one-half is processed automatically by the system. Upon reaching the 120-hour limit of overtime compensatory leave, employees must either receive cash for additional hours of overtime worked or use accrued overtime compensatory leave before receiving further overtime compensatory leave credits.

The University of Florida’s overtime policy encourages employees to use overtime compensatory leave as soon as possible after it is earned. When employees reassign, promote, or demote from their budgetary units, as defined by the appropriate vice president/designee, their overtime compensatory leave credits must be cashed out before the effective dates of their new position. The appropriate vice president/designee also may elect to cash out all overtime compensatory leave credits when employees transfer within their budgetary units. In addition, all overtime compensatory leave credits typically must be taken as leave time or be cashed out prior to any scheduled salary increases.

Unused overtime compensatory leave credits also must be taken as leave time or be cashed out prior to the end of each fiscal year. This cash out will be automatic and will occur in May or June. Payroll will advise departments several weeks before the “cash out” payday.

Overtime compensatory leave cannot be designated as qualifying under the Family Medical Leave Act, although an employee may choose to use the leave while on FMLA-qualifying leave.

Regular Compensatory Leave

Full-time exempt USPS employees who are required to work more than 40 hours in a workweek are eligible to earn regular compensatory leave on an hour-for-hour basis. Part-time exempt USPS employees who are required to work more than their FTE are eligible to earn regular compensatory leave on an hour-for-hour basis. No employee shall be allowed to accrue more than 120 hours of such regular compensatory leave credits.

Employees may transfer regular compensatory leave credits when moving to another USPS exempt position within the University of Florida. However, when an employee moves from a university position eligible to accrue regular compensatory leave to an ineligible USPS or TEAMS position (for example, from an exempt USPS position to an exempt TEAMS position), he or she may retain his or her accrued regular compensatory leave but must use it before using any vacation leave. All unused regular compensatory leave will be lost when moving to a faculty appointment. Requests for use of earned regular compensatory leave should be handled in the same manner as requests to use accrued vacation leave.

In most cases, regular compensatory leave hours accrued over the 120-hour maximum will be lost. However, under limited circumstances, USPS exempt employees may be paid for regular compensatory leave for hours accrued over the maximum accrual rate of 120 hours. The vice president of the employee’s budgetary unit, in addition to the employee’s immediate supervisor, must approve payment for these hours. No payment for unused regular compensatory leave credits is permitted when exempt employees move to positions that do not accrue regular compensatory leave or separate from the university.

Special Compensatory Leave

Special compensatory leave has an hour-for-hour value and can only be earned in conjunction with holidays or certain types of administrative leave. USPS and non-exempt TEAMS employees, with the exception of employees receiving workers’ compensation salary payments, are eligible to earn special compensatory leave credits. At the University of Florida special compensatory leave is earned most often in conjunction with a holiday as described below.

If you are a USPS or a non-exempt TEAMS employee who must work on a holiday, you generally will earn special compensatory leave credits for the number of hours worked not to exceed eight hours. In other cases, your supervisor may wish to adjust your work schedule within the workweek in which the holiday falls. If your schedule is adjusted and you take another day off in the workweek, no special compensatory leave credits will be earned.

Sometimes a holiday falls on an employee’s regular day off. In this instance, you normally will be credited with special compensatory leave equal to the number of hours in your regular workday not to exceed eight hours. As an alternative to your accruing special compensatory leave, your supervisor may wish to adjust your work schedule by allowing you to take off another day during that workweek (no special compensatory leave credits will be earned).

When the holiday falls on your regular day off but you must work, the number of hours worked on the holiday shall be counted as hours worked. In addition, you normally will be credited with special compensatory leave equal to the number of hours in your regular workday not to exceed eight hours.

When employees reassign, promote, or demote from their budgetary units, as defined by the appropriate vice president/designee, their special compensatory leave credits must be cashed out before the effective dates of their new position. The appropriate vice president/designee also may elect to cash out all special compensatory leave credits when employees transfer within their budgetary units. In addition, all special compensatory leave credits typically must be taken as leave time or be cashed out prior to any scheduled salary increases.

Unused special compensatory leave credits also must be taken as leave time or be cashed out prior to the end of each fiscal year. This cash-out will be automatic and will occur in May or June.

Compensatory Leave Balances Exceeding the Maximum Allowed

In keeping with university policy, USPS employees may not accrue more than 120 hours of either overtime or regular compensatory leave. If an employee accrues overtime or regular compensatory leave over the maximum, the payroll processor will be notified by UF Benefits as follows:

Overtime Compensatory Leave

When an employee’s overtime compensatory leave balance reaches to 120 hours, UF Benefits will switch this employee’s workgroup management so he or she will start receiving overtime pay for any overtime worked from that point on. Once the balance drops below the maximum, it is department’s responsibility to switch the employee’s workgroup management from receiving overtime pay to accrue overtime compensatory leave.

Regular Compensatory Leave

When a USPS exempt employee has over 120 hours of regular compensatory leave, the employee may not accrue additional regular compensatory leave hours until the balance falls below the 120-hour maximum. Please note that an employee cannot receive any cash payment for the hours earned in excess of the maximum balance. except under special circumstances.