Overtime, Comp Time, and Credit Hours
This Handbook page provides a brief overview of overtime, comp time, and credit hours.
There are several factors which affect how you could be compensated for working extra hours. One is your salary: if your salary is at - or close to - the maximum GS salary ($183,500 in FY23). Another factor is whether you are an , external,exempt or non-exempt employee.
You should obtain supervisor approval prior to working extra hours. And, your supervisor should understand your specific situation prior to approving overtime.
The guidance below is only a high level overview. You and/or your supervisor can reach out to PeopleOps anytime with questions about your specific situation.
Overtime and Comp Time
Overtime and comp time can be approved by your supervisor no matter what type of work schedule you have.
Overtime is when you are paid for extra hours that you work, whereas comp time is when you receive hours of leave instead of pay. To determine the maximum number of comp time hours that you can accrue per pay period, please use the , external,TTS-only, Bi-weekly Comp Time Cap Calculator.
You should use your accrued comp time before using Annual Leave. However, if the end of the leave year is approaching, your supervisor can approve your Annual Leave requests first if you are in danger of losing Annual Leave because of “Use or Lose.”
Comp time expires one year (26 pay periods) after it is earned. When you reach the expiration date, you will forfeit the leave. If you leave GSA, your comp time will be paid out.
Credit Hours
Note: Credit hours are only available if you are on a flexible work schedule.
You can be approved for credit hours if you want to voluntarily work additional hours to your normal/approved schedule. If you are required to work additional hours, you will receive overtime or comp time.
- You can have up to 24 credit hours accrued, at any given time.
- The hours will rollover from one pay period to the next, and they never expire.
- Credit hours cannot be converted to cash, unless you leave GSA (then they will be paid out).
Credit hours example
You are on a Gliding schedule, and you work 8 hours every day. You are not required to stay late, but if you are in a productive headspace and want to work an extra hour to finish work, you can ask your supervisor about working 1 more hour, therefore receiving 1 credit hour. You will need to request the 1 hour in HR Links, and your supervisor will need to approve it.
Religious comp time
You can request an adjustment to your work schedule for religious observances, instead of taking leave. Document your request to your supervisor, via email, in advance of the time you’ll need to miss, along with the schedule of the time you will work outside of normal hours to compensate.
Note: religious comp time does not follow the salary cap rules that are outlined in the beginning of this document. Anyone can request religious comp time, regardless of their salary and what type of work schedule they are on.
Travel comp time
When you travel in connection to TTS, the time you spend traveling may be regular time, overtime, or travel comp time, depending on when the travel occurs.
You’ll complete overtime and comp time requests after you travel because you may encounter delays. Keep a copy of your travel itinerary to help you remember your trip.
Refer to the , external,TTS-only, Compensation for Government Travel slidedeck to determine the breakdown of your hours. This slidedeck is only open to GSA employees. Please contact your Timekeeper or an HR Specialist at your agency with questions.
Note: travel comp time does not follow the salary cap rules that are outlined in the beginning of this document. Anyone can request travel comp time, regardless of their salary and what type of work schedule they are on.
Travel comp time expires one year (26 pay periods) after it is earned. When you reach the expiration date, you will forfeit the leave. If you leave GSA, any unused travel comp time will be forfeited.
Entering the overtime, comp time, and/or credit hours you will be working into HRLinks
Entering your hours is a two step process.
Step 1 - Submit a time request in HRLinks
You need to enter your overtime, comp time, or credit hours into HRLinks. To determine the maximum number of comp time hours that you can accrue per pay period, please use the , external,TTS-only, Bi-weekly Comp Time Cap Calculator. Your supervisor will be notified to approve the hours requested.
- Go to the Employee Time Requests tile
- Select Additional Time Requests
- Click time request type: Request Overtime, Request Comp Time, or Request Credit Time.
- For Comp Time: the default selection is regular Comp Time. To switch to Religious or Travel Comp Time, click on the Additional Time Type dropdown menu.
- For Overtime: you will need to select a reason you worked overtime.
- Enter Start Date and End Date
- Enter Requested Hours
- Enter Comments
- Click Submit
You’ll receive emails after submitting the request, and after it is approved. There is a , external,TTS-only, step-by-step guide to submitting time requests.
Step 2 - Update your timesheet
Currently, HR Links is not connecting Comp/Credit/Overtime hours to your timesheet. This means you will need to manually add the hours you earned to your timesheet on the day(s) when you earned them. You’ll do this after your supervisor has approved the hours in step 1.
There is a , external,TTS-only, step-by-step guide on adding the hours to your timesheet. Reach out to , external,TTS-only, #people-ops if you need assistance.
Using the comp time and/or credit hours you’ve earned
You will submit a leave request, just like you do for other types of leave. When searching in HR Links for the leave type to request, the codes and leave names are:
041 - Comp Time Used037 - Credit Hours Used047 - Religious Comp Time Used043 - Travel Comp Time Used
OPM Resources
- , external,Adjustment of Work Schedules for Religious Observances
- , external,Overtime Fact Sheet
- , external,Comp Time Fact Sheet
- , external,Credit Hours Fact Sheet
