Comp time

What It Means

Comp time, short for compensatory time off, is paid time off an employer gives instead of paying cash for overtime hours. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Department of Labor allows it only for state and local government employees, who earn at least 1.5 hours off for each overtime hour worked. A private employer covered by the FLSA has to pay nonexempt workers overtime in wages, at least one and one-half times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek.

How People Say It at Work

• "I'll take comp time instead of overtime this month."
• "I've got two days of comp banked from the election."
• "My manager offered comp time, but I'm hourly at a private company."

The Breakdown

Worked example, public employer. Jordan works for a county and puts in 1010,000 stepsA popular daily step goal that began as the name of a 1960s Japanese pedometer; later studies find health benefits begin well below it. See more overtime hours in a busy month. Under Fact Sheet #7, comp time is earned at no less than 1.5 hours per overtime hour.

Same hours, private employer. Sam earns $20 an hour at a private company. The FLSA requires at least time and one-half, so each overtime hour pays at least $30, and 10 hours comes to at least $300 in wages. Sam's employer can't hand out 15 hours off instead.

What the result means. For a public employee, comp time is pay you take as time. The Department of Labor says you must be allowed to use it on the date you ask for unless that would unduly disrupt the agency's operations. Once a balance nears its cap (480 hours for police, fire, emergency response and seasonal work, 240 for everyone else), ask payroll how extra hours are handled.

Good to Know

These rules come from the Department of Labor's Fact Sheet #7 for state and local governments and its Handy Reference Guide to the FLSA. Overtime protection covers nonexempt employees, so a salaried worker classified as exempt follows different rules; if you're unsure how you're classified, ask HR or check the Wage and Hour Division's site. State law can add its own overtime rules, so check your state labor department too.

Related Terms and Categories

• Compressed workweek

  A full-time schedule that fits the usual hours into fewer, longer days, such as four 10-hour days a week instead of five 8-hour days.

• Flextime

  A work schedule that lets employees pick their start and finish times within limits, as long as they work the required hours and are there for core hours.

• Sick leave

  Time off work an employer allows when you're ill, injured or caring for your health, paid or unpaid depending on the employer's policy and state or local law.

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