Excess Hours: Business Process Guide

Definitions

• Standard Work Schedule is a work schedule where the normal workdays are Monday through Friday, with Saturdays and Sundays off.

• Alternate Work Schedule is a schedule other than Monday through Friday, five (5) days per week and up to eight (8) hours a day, depending on the time base (FTE).

• Excess Hours: For employees who work an alternate work schedule, “excess hours” refers to the hours that differ between an employee’s alternate schedule and the number of hours worked in a pay period for a standard work schedule. This number can vary from pay period to pay period.

Overview

The California State University is required to track work hours for employees on an alternate work schedule that fall outside the standard number of hours for the pay period. Because of the overlap of work schedule and pay period, excess hours can be either greater than, or less than, the normal number of work hours calculated for the month. Only non-exempt employees report Excess Hours.

State pay periods contain either 21 or 22 working days (refer to CSULB Payroll Calendar for specific timeframes for each pay period). Employees assigned an irregular shift may work more or less than the standard 21 days (168 hours) or 22 days (176 hours). Deviations from the standard 21 or 22 days are recorded as “Excess Hours.”

When an employee works more than the usual 21 or 22 days, they receive credit for “Excess Plus” hours. Working less than the usual 21 or 22 days, the time is tracked as “Excess Minus” hours.

Excess Hours: Non-exempt employees shall be paid for all hours worked within the respective pay period and there shall be no accumulation of excess hours carried forward into subsequent pay periods.

Deficit Hours: Non-exempt employees who have deficit hours in a given pay period may carry forward these deficit hours. These deficit hours shall be offset by any excess number of hours (credits) worked in a subsequent pay period, as appropriate. Employees shall not be paid for excess hours worked in a pay period when an equal or greater deficit balance exists. Employees may choose to offset deficit balances by using other available leave credits such as vacation, compensatory time off (CTO), ADO, and/or Personal Holiday. All campuses shall reconcile employees’ deficit hours at least once each calendar year in December. When reconciling an employee’s deficit hours in December, the affected employee may use leave balances, be docked, or the campus must establish an accounts receivable, as appropriate, if no leave credits are available to offset the deficit.

Department Responsibilities

• Departments should provide a copy of the rules and procedures to all employees who have an alternate work schedule.

• Calculation of Excess Hours is the responsibility of the departments.  Timekeepers must indicate to Payroll, on the Time Keeping System, the number of excess hours, using time reporting codes for Excess Plus (EP) and Excess Minus (EM).

Calendar Year-End Reconciliation

Excess hours will be “settled out” at the end of each calendar year. Hours owed to the employee will be paid to the employee in January. Hours owed to the campus may be covered by taking time from vacation, CTO, ADO, Personal Holiday, or by a pay dock. The following notice will be sent to each employee who has Excess Hours:

Separation from the University

• When an employee separates from the university and has Excess Plus hours at the time of separation, these hours will be paid at the regular rate of pay.

• When an employee separates from the university and has Excess Minus hours at the time of separation, the employee has the option to use vacation, CTO, Personal Holiday or take a pay “dock” for these hours.

Pay “Docks”

Excess hours cannot be used to avoid pay “docks” occurring as a result of any unauthorized absences, or absences without sufficient leave credits to cover time off.

Holiday Policy/Rules

As stated previously, employees assigned an irregular shift may work more or less than the standard hours. These may include holidays. Rules for holiday work time include the following considerations:

Holidays – Alternate Work Schedules

1. When non exempt alternate work schedule employees (includes exempt Unit 9 employees) do not get a holiday because the holiday occurs on their normal day off, they will receive hours equaling an additional day off (ADO) credit. Departmental timekeepers will record these hours on the timekeeping system with the time reporting code of “ADO”.
2. For Unit 2,5,6,7,8, or 9 employees, the number of hours that an employee earns as ADO shall be determined by the hours the employee would normally work.
3. For Unit 1,3, or 4 employees, the number of hours an employee earns as ADO shall be 8 hours.
4. If a Unit 2,5,6,7, or 9 non exempt employee is scheduled to work a holiday, and opts to work the holiday, they will be compensated with overtime pay (OT). In this circumstance, the employee:
1. Will be granted overtime pay or CTO at premium rate.
2. Does NOT get Excess Hours or ADO.
5. If a Unit 9 exempt employee is scheduled to work a holiday and opts to work the holiday, they will receive an additional day off (ADO) credit. ADO must be taken in full day increments and used within 180 days after the holiday was observed.
6. Unit 8 employees (whether scheduled or not to work a holiday) will receive:
1. Overtime pay or CTO at premium rate.
2. ADO credit (at straight time).
7. When calculating EM/EP, do not include time earned for holidays that fell on normal days off or overtime.

Procedure for Tracking Excess Hours

Employees:  The Absence and Additional Time Worked Formcontains the reporting codes for Excess Hours. Employees must report Excess Minus (EM) or Excess Plus (EP) on the form.  Employees assigned an irregular shift may work more or less than the standard 21 days (168 hours) or 22 days (176 hours).  Deviations from the standard 21 or 22 days are recorded as Excess Hours.