The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is federal law that sets minimum wage, overtime pay, equal pay, record keeping, and child labor standards. At the University of Florida, each department is responsible for ensuring compliance. The university’s classification, pay, and payroll regulations, forms, and procedures are designed to achieve compliance. Departments can maintain compliance by following established regulations and procedures. Violations may result in back wages recovery and fines, as well as civil or criminal action.
All faculty employees are exempt from FLSA provisions. Many USPS and TEAMS classifications are designated exempt from FLSA overtime payment provisions. Hourly USPS and TEAMS classifications are non-exempt and require time recording on an hourly basis. All hourly OPS employees and Student Assistants are non-exempt and have the same time recording requirements.
Non-exempt employees should not work outside their approved schedule without supervisor approval. Every employee in a non-exempt classification must record all hours in the workweek as each starting and stopping time occurs. Non-exempt employees are encouraged to leave their workstation during their regularly scheduled lunch periods. Conducting any job related activity during scheduled lunch periods is time worked and must be recorded as such. Non-exempt employees’ time records must be verified by supervisors. Appropriate supervision of non-exempt employees must be maintained at all times to ensure the integrity and accuracy of time-worked records. University of Florida policy prescribes that supervisors be present during their employees’ working hours so they may verify hours worked. Falsifying records may result in dismissal.
OPS employees do not receive paid leave, including annual leave, sick leave, administrative leave, or paid holidays. Falsifying time records can have severe consequences. OPS employees are not allowed to record hours taken off as time worked. Falsifying records may result in severe consequences for employees and supervisors. OPS employees may be eligible for unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Departments are required to keep accurate records of all hours worked and approved leave for each employee. This is done through recording and approving time worked in the Time and Labor feature of PeopleSoft. For non-exempt or hourly employees, accurate start and stop times must be recorded. The department head is responsible for record accuracy.
Overtime is work beyond the 40-hour University workweek. Unauthorized overtime should be avoided. Departments should follow procedures established by their Vice President for obtaining prior authorization for use of overtime.
Overtime worked by employees in non-exempt USPS and TEAMS positions must be paid in one of two ways. The employee may be paid one and one-half times their regular hourly rate of pay for each hour of overtime worked. As an alternative, if the employee and supervisor agree in advance, the employee may be compensated by crediting the employee with up to 120 hours of overtime compensatory leave (80 hours of overtime work), which is one and one-half hours of leave for each hour of overtime worked. 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. Other arrangements are not allowed, as they would be considered falsification of time records. Supervisors are encouraged to make a reasonable effort to allow employees to specify a preference between cash payment and overtime compensatory leave. If an agreement cannot be reached, cash payment will be made.
Payment for overtime worked should be made no later than the end of the pay period immediately following the pay period during which the overtime was worked. All payments for overtime must be made from authorized budgeted funds for salaries.
Exempt USPS employees are eligible for regular compensatory leave on an hour-for-hour basis, not to exceed 120 hours. Exempt TEAMS employees are not eligible for any compensatory leave. Supervisors are encouraged, when possible, to adjust the workweek to compensate for additional hours worked by these employees.
Hourly OPS employees must be paid must be paid one and one-half times their regular hourly rate of pay for each hour of overtime worked. They are not eligible for compensatory leave.
If an employee works for more than one UF employer, approval for Additional University Employment is required. In most cases, secondary employment must be compensated at 1.5 times the primary rate if it exceeds 1.0 FTE. However, if the employee solely at their option, works occasionally or sporadically on a part-time basis in a different capacity from their primary employment, the secondary employment will be exempt from overtime.
Travel between an employee’s home and assigned headquarters is not counted as hours worked. If an employee is called back to work after their scheduled hours of work for the day, the employee should be credited with actual time worked, including time to and from the employee’s home to the assigned work location or a minimum of two hours of work–whichever is greater.
Travel for University work is considered time worked. Travel time on the first and last day of an event is considered time worked. Please discuss specific situations with Leave Administration at 392-2477.
For non-exempt employees, travel that results in overtime status is compensated according to standard policies.