Section 124.18. Standard work week - compensatory time - overtime pay - holidays

(A) Forty hours shall be the standard work week for all employees whose salary or wage is paid in whole or in part by the state or by any state-supported college or university. When any employee whose salary or wage is paid in whole or in part by the state or by any state-supported college or university is required by an authorized administrative authority to be in an active pay status more than forty hours in any calendar week, the employee shall be compensated for such time over forty hours, except as otherwise provided in this section, at one and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay. The use of sick leave or any leave used in lieu of sick leave shall not be considered to be active pay status for the purposes of earning overtime or compensatory time by employees whose wages are paid directly by warrant of the director of budget and management. A flexible-hours employee is not entitled to compensation for overtime work unless the employee's authorized administrative authority required the employee to be in active pay status for more than forty hours in a calendar week, regardless of the number of hours the employee works on any day in the same calendar week.

Such compensation for overtime work shall be paid no later than at the conclusion of the next succeeding pay period.

If the employee elects to take compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay for any overtime worked, such compensatory time shall be granted by the employee's administrative superior, on a time and one-half basis, at a time mutually convenient to the employee and the administrative superior. Compensatory time is not available for use until it appears on the employee's earning statement and the compensation described in the earning statement is available to the employee.

An employee may accrue compensatory time to a maximum of two hundred forty hours, except that public safety employees and other employees who meet the criteria established in the "Federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938," 52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C.A. 207, 213, as amended, may accrue a maximum of four hundred eighty hours of compensatory time. An employee shall be paid at the employee's regular rate of pay for any hours of compensatory time accrued in excess of these maximum amounts if the employee has not used the compensatory time within three hundred sixty-five days after it is granted, if the employee transfers to another agency of the state, or if a change in the employee's status exempts the employee from the payment of overtime compensation. Upon the termination of employment, any employee with accrued but unused compensatory time shall be paid for that time at a rate that is the greater of the employee's final regular rate of pay or the employee's average regular rate of pay during the employee's last three years of employment with the state.

No overtime, as described in this section, can be paid unless it has been authorized by the authorized administrative authority. Employees may be exempted from the payment of compensation as required by this section only under the criteria for exemption from the payment of overtime compensation established in the "Federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938," 52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C.A. 207, 213, as amended. With the approval of the director of administrative services, the appointing authority may establish a policy to grant compensatory time or to pay compensation to employees in the service of the state who are exempt from overtime compensation. With the approval of the board of county commissioners, a county human services department may establish a policy to grant compensatory time or to pay compensation to employees of the department who are exempt from overtime compensation.

(B)

(1) An employee, whose salary or wage is paid in whole or in part by the state, shall be paid for the holidays declared in section 124.19 of the Revised Code and shall not be required to work on those holidays, unless, in the opinion of the employee's responsible administrative authority, failure to work on those holidays would impair the public service.

(2) An employee paid directly by warrant of the director of budget and management who is scheduled to work on the first day of January, the commemoration of memorial day, the fourth day of July, the fourth Thursday in November, or the twenty-fifth day of December and who does not report to work the day before, the day of, or the day after the holiday due to an illness of the employee or of a member of the employee's immediate family shall not receive holiday pay as provided by this division, unless the employee can provide documentation of extenuating circumstances that prohibited the employee from so reporting to work. If the employee works a shift between the employee's scheduled shift and the holiday, the employee shall be paid for the holiday.

(3) An employee also shall not be paid for a holiday unless the employee was in active pay status on the scheduled work day immediately preceding the holiday, except that an employee need not be in active pay status on that work day in order to be paid for the holiday if the employee is participating in a mandatory or voluntary cost savings day under section 124.392 of the Revised Code.

(4) If any of the holidays declared in section 124.19 of the Revised Code falls on Saturday, the Friday immediately preceding shall be observed as the holiday. If any of the holidays declared in section 124.19 of the Revised Code falls on Sunday, the Monday immediately succeeding shall be observed as the holiday. Employees whose work schedules are based on the requirements of a seven-days-a-week work operation shall observe holidays on the actual days specified in section 124.19 of the Revised Code.

(5) If an employee's work schedule is other than Monday through Friday, the employee shall be entitled to eight hours of holiday pay for holidays observed on the employee's day off regardless of the day of the week on which they are observed.

(6) A full-time permanent employee is entitled to a minimum of eight hours of pay for each holiday regardless of the employee's work shift and work schedule. A flexible-hours employee, who is normally scheduled to work in excess of eight hours on a day on which a holiday falls, either shall be required to work an alternate schedule for that week or shall receive additional holiday pay for the hours the employee is normally scheduled to work. Such an alternate schedule may require a flexible-hours employee to work five shifts consisting of eight hours each during the week including the holiday, and, in that case, the employee shall receive eight hours of holiday pay for the day the holiday is observed.

(7) Except as provided under section 124.392 of the Revised Code, part-time permanent employees shall receive four hours of holiday pay regardless of the employee's work shift and work schedule.

(8) When an employee who is eligible for overtime pay under this section is required by the employee's responsible administrative authority to work on the day observed as a holiday, the employee shall be entitled to pay for such time worked at one and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay in addition to the employee's regular pay, or to be granted compensatory time off at time and one-half thereafter, at the employee's option. Payment at such rate shall be excluded in the calculation of hours in active pay status.

(C) Each appointing authority may designate the number of employees in an agency who are flexible-hours employees. The appointing authority may establish for each flexible-hours employee a specified minimum number of hours to be worked each day that is consistent with the "Federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938," 52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C.A. 207, 213, as amended.

(D) This section shall be uniformly administered for employees as defined in section 124.01 of the Revised Code and by the personnel departments of state-supported colleges and universities for employees of state-supported colleges and universities. If employees are not paid directly by warrant of the director of budget and management, the political subdivision shall determine whether the use of sick leave shall be considered to be active pay status for purposes of those employees earning overtime or compensatory time.

(E) Policies relating to the payment of overtime pay or the granting of compensatory time off shall be adopted by the chief administrative officer of the house of representatives for employees of the house of representatives, by the clerk of the senate for employees of the senate, and by the director of the legislative service commission for all other legislative employees.

(F) As used in this section, "regular rate of pay" means the base rate of pay an employee receives plus any pay supplements received pursuant to section 124.181 of the Revised Code.

Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 25, HB 59, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2013.

Amended by 128th General Assemblych.10, HB 16, §101, eff. 6/30/2009.

Effective Date: 06-15-2000; 06-30-2006