This section provides information on hours of duty and accounting for time, work schedule options, and part-time employment.

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 6101 and 5 CFR Part 610, this section establishes tours of duty for employees in the Office of Chief Counsel. Except as explained below, the basic 40-hour workweek in the Office of Chief Counsel is scheduled on five days, Monday through Friday.

Excluding overtime hours, an employee is required to work or otherwise account for the basic 40-hour workweek by leave, credit hours, holiday hours, excused absence (such as administrative time), compensatory time off, or leave without pay (LWOP).

The lunch or meal period is an approved period of time in a nonpay and nonwork status that interrupts the basic workday and enables an employee to eat or engage in permitted personal activities.

The flexible band and core hours for the Office of Chief Counsel are as follows:

Core hours are the hours during the workday during which all employees must be working or on approved absence.

Pursuant to 5 CFR § 610.404, each office must have a system of time accounting. Employees are responsible for certifying that their time records are correct. Regardless of the system used in a particular office, supervisors are reminded that they must have written records showing leave approvals and provide affirmative evidence (in other words, certify) that all their subordinates (individuals whose leave they approve) have worked the proper number of hours every pay period. Such certification is accomplished by signing either a time and attendance record, a time and attendance roster, or signing in the Single Entry Time Reporting (SETR) system (or its successor).

Where the opening of a Federal office is delayed for a specified number of hours due to hazardous weather or other conditions, and such delay is generally applicable to employees in a given location, the employee’s normal tour of duty will be used as a reference point to determine when the employee will report to work.

When a decision is made to dismiss employees from work early because of an emergency or some other general or area-wide condition, all employees will be dismissed at the same time. The fact that one employee may have commenced work earlier than other employees on that day will not be taken into consideration in authorizing an early dismissal.

There are three (3) work schedule options in the Office of Chief Counsel. Employees must use one of the following separate options:

By law, credit hours are only available for employees on a flexible work schedule (i.e., Flexitour, Gliding, or Maxiflex schedules). Members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) may not earn credit hours.

“Credit hours” are any hours within the credit hours flexible band between 5:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. which are in excess of an employee’s basic work requirement and which the employee works, with supervisory approval, so as to vary the length of the workweek or workday. For example, an employee who has worked eight (8) credit hours in a week may take one (1) day off later that week subject to management approval. However, credit hours may not be used to have a recurring day off (i.e., regularly take the same day off every pay period).

Credit hours are not subject to premium pay provisions of 5 U.S.C. § 5545(a) in accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 6123(c)(1).

With unit supervisory approval, an employee may earn up to four (4) credit hours on each workday, or holiday, and up to twelve (12) credit hours on each non-workday. On a holiday, employees may earn credit hours only outside their regular tour of duty.

Credit hours may be worked non-contiguously to the employee’s regular work schedule and may be worked at an alternate worksite. For example, an employee may work at the regular work site between 7:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. and work two (2) credit hours between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. from their approved alternate work location.

Credit hours worked must ordinarily be requested and approved in advance. Supervisors will be reasonable in approving the earning of credit hours, and credit hours will be approved if management determines that appropriate work is assigned, necessary, and available. Supervisors may give a blanket approval to earn credit hours up to a designated limit per day, week or pay period. Approval to earn credit hours may be granted orally. Once approved, the hours earned will be reported on an appropriate organizational form or transmittal (e.g. SF-71, e-mail, or fax) and recorded on SETR (or its successor).

Pursuant to statute, the number of credit hours that a full-time employee may carry from one pay period to the next pay period is twenty-four (24) hours. Part-time employees may earn credit hours on the same basis as full-time employees but may carry over only 1/4 of the regularly scheduled hours in each biweekly pay period.

Credit hours do not have to be used within a certain period and may be carried over into the next leave year.

Credit hours may be earned and taken in fifteen (15) minute increments.

The use of earned credit hours will be approved using the same standard for approval of annual leave.

Credit hours may be taken within the same pay period as the credit hours are earned. However, the credit hours must be earned before the credit hours can be taken. For example, an employee with no prior credit hour balance may not take two (2) credit hours on Monday and then attempt to earn the credit hours taken on Tuesday.

A credit hour may not be used on the same day that it is earned. For example, an employee with no prior credit hour balance may not earn a credit hour in the morning and use that same credit hour later in the same day. Subject to prior supervisory approval, employees who have a credit hour balance may use credit hours on the same day that other credit hours are earned.

Credit hours may be earned on the same day that an employee takes approved leave. Additionally, credit hours may be used in place of or in combination with other types of leave if the use of credit hours is approved in advance by supervisor.

Standard for Approval of Individual’s Work Schedule

Standard for Discontinuing an Individual’s Work Schedule

General Provisions

An employee whose personal religious beliefs require the abstention from work during certain periods of time may elect to engage in religious compensatory overtime work for time lost, without charge to leave, or may elect to take annual leave for meeting those religious requirements.

To the extent such modifications in work schedules do not interfere with the efficient accomplishment of the Office of Chief Counsel's mission, the Office of Chief Counsel shall in each instance grant an employee’s request to use religious compensatory time off on a specified date and time for a specified religious observance. If the employee's request to use religious compensatory time off is denied, the Office of Chief Counsel must provide a written explanation as to the reason the request has been denied, regardless of whether the employee's request was written or oral. At the time the request is made, the employee must provide the date, name and/or description of the religious observance that is the basis of the employee’s request to be absent from work in order to meet the employee’s personal religious requirements.

The Office of Chief Counsel will afford the employee the opportunity to earn religious compensatory time off within the thirteen (13) pay periods before or after the specified religious observance. An employee may only accumulate the amount of religious compensatory time off needed to cover the specific dates and times for which the employee has submitted a request for religious compensatory time off. Religious compensatory time is appropriate when the employee's personal religious beliefs require that the employee abstain from work during certain periods of the workday or workweek.

Reasonable opportunities to earn religious compensatory time off include the Office of Chief Counsel's effort to first assign work that is regularly assigned to the affected employee; if this work is not available, then to assign work which may include work not normally assigned, if the employee is qualified to perform such work.

The Office of Chief Counsel will not be prevented from directing an employee to work overtime even though the employee still has religious compensatory time outstanding.

Employees must notify their supervisors of a desire to take religious compensatory time off for a religious observance. Notification should take place fifteen (15) days in advance, whenever possible.

Religious compensatory time off may be earned and taken in fifteen (15) minute increments.

Employees must request and receive approval for the earning of religious compensatory time in advance. All earning of religious compensatory time must be done in accordance with 5 CFR § 550.1004 and 1005.

Religious compensatory time shall be accounted for separately from other leave categories.

Employees who take advanced religious compensatory time off for religious observances may subsequently thereafter elect to charge that time to annual leave. If an employee elects to charge that time to annual leave their request will be granted. However, employees who take annual leave or leave without pay for religious observances may not subsequently charge that to religious compensatory time off.

It is the policy of the Office of Chief Counsel to make part-time employment opportunities available to the maximum extent possible for non-management positions through GS-15, consistent with the Office’s resources and mission requirements. Such opportunities shall be made without discrimination for any non-merit reason.

Opportunities for voluntary change from full-time to part-time employment shall be given to employees whenever feasible. Full-time employees, however, shall not be required to accept part-time employment as a condition for continued employment and occupied full-time positions shall not be abolished for the sole purpose of converting them to part-time positions.

Employees who have been continuously employed on a part-time permanent basis prior to April 8, 1979, are not covered by the Federal Employees Part-time Career Employment Act of 1978 (Pub.L. No. 95-437). They may work on ANY part-time schedule for as long as they work part-time without a break in service.