Staff Overtime Policy

The University authorizes the use of overtime only in emergencies or unusual circumstances. The dean/director MUST GIVE PRIOR APPROVAL for overtime except in case of an emergency when prior approval is not possible.

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act governs payment to staff employees for overtime. Under the provisions of this Act, each workweek is considered separately for computing overtime. The standard University workweek begins Saturday morning, 12:00 a.m. and ends Friday night, 12:00 midnight. (See Work Hours for Full-Time Staff Policy.)

A staff employee working more than 40 hours in a workweek must be compensated at time and one-half for all hours worked over 40. Where it appears an employee will exceed 40 hours in a workweek, departments may provide time off IN THE SAME WORKWEEK to keep the total hours worked at 40 or less.

Pay for vacation, sick leave, and holidays is not pay for hours worked. Therefore, even though in these cases a staff employee may be paid for this non-working time, these hours should not be added to the total hours worked in the workweek for the purpose of computing overtime. The law does not require payment at a time and a half rate in a workweek where there are not over 40 hours of actual work performed. However, when employees are called in for emergency work outside of normal working hours, departments may choose to pay a time and a half rate for those hours, regardless of total hours worked during the week.

There is no provision in the law for carrying excess hours over and paying them in a later pay period. ALL TIME WORKED MUST BE COMPENSATED ON A CURRENT UP-TO-DATE BASIS. The only exception is when overtime is worked in one week, it may be compensated by time off in the next week at a time and half rate, IF BOTH WEEKS ARE IN THE SAME PAY PERIOD.

It is illegal for a staff employee to "donate" extra time in the regular job assignment (see Volunteer Policy). All time worked at the request or with the knowledge and consent of the supervisor must be recorded and appropriately compensated. It is the responsibility of management to exercise control over an employee's work schedule.

If an employee must work on an approved holiday, the supervisor may schedule another day off with pay. It would not need to fall within the same workweek. If another day off is not feasible, the department may add a day's pay at straight time to the employee's check to compensate for the holiday missed.

A full-time staff employee who accepts a second job at BYU, in the same division or in another division, with duties that are separate and different from the primary employment, will be paid overtime (at time and one half) based upon the second job's base rate. If the work of the second job is the same as that performed in the primary job, then the overtime pay (at time and one half) will be based on the base rate the employee receives in the primary job. ALL OF THE HOURS WORKED ON THE SECOND JOB WILL GENERALLY BE CONSIDERED AS OVERTIME AND PAID AT A TIME AND ONE HALF RATE. Performance of a second job at BYU must be approved by supervisors of both departments, the employee's Dean or Director, and by Human Resource Services. A "Request for Approval of Overtime" form must be completed before commencement of the work.