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Comp
Time
Off Denied?
Do
you end up using your sick time because your request for the use of
comp time is denied? Does this eventually land you on the
sick time abusers' list? There may be help. A
recent decision has stated that Departments needs more than
the payment of overtime to deny a request for time off using
compensatory time.
"The fact that
overtime may be required of one employee to permit another employee to
use compensatory time off would not be a sufficient reason for an
employer to claim that the compensatory time off request is unduly
disruptive".
Departments
have been
denying the use of compensatory time claiming that it is "unduly
disruptive" to the Department's operations. The decision in Beck
v. City of Cleveland, has stated
that causing the Department to incur the financial burden of paying
overtime is not "unduly disruptive" and the Department would in fact
have to be unable to pay overtime, or nearly bankrupt to have it be
deemed so. In other words, if you are denied a "timely
request" to use your compensatory time and it is denied, check the
roster, see who is working, are there overtime assignments?
Search Warrants? DWI patrols?
Also
incorporated in the
decision:
"It is the committee's view that an employee should not be coerced to accept more compensatory time in lieu of overtime pay in a year than an employer realistically and in good faith expects to be able to grant to that employee if he or she requests it within a similar period. To do otherwise would permit public employers to enjoy the fruits of the overtime labors of the employee without having to pay the overtime required by the Act. Clearly compensatory time is not envisioned as a means to avoid overtime compensation".
It appears you
should be able to use
the amount of compensatory time you earn in a year, within that same
period.
The Act that the
case refers to is
the Fair
Labor Standards Act otherwise
known as the FLSA. International Union of Police
Association's General Counsel, Aaron
Nisenson explains the case and
its impact.