Management Overtime Policy

Policy Statement

While it is recognized that management employees are required to work the necessary hours to fulfill their responsibilities, management employees are entitled to be compensated appropriately for overtime that is determined to be beyond the scope of regular management duties.

Where it is required by the Employer and with the prior approval of the Deputy Minister, management employees will be compensated for work in excess of their regularly scheduled work hours under the following circumstances:

  1. Emergency situations which require an immediate response and are determined to be beyond the normal operations of the department, or
  2. Work performed on a designated project or negotiation where time constraints are significant, or
  3. Increased work demands, over a prolonged period of time, due to the cyclical nature of a department’s work.

Compensation for work in excess of regularly scheduled work hours outside of the above situations requires Treasury Board approval.

^ Top of Page

Application

This policy applies to solicitors, management and non-management/non-bargaining employees on the HL pay scales except Executive Secretaries and those management employees who regularly work and supervise other employees on rotating shifts.

^ Top of Page

Definitions

Cyclical Nature of Work:
The annual distribution or cycle of work. Due to the nature of a department’s work, workload may not be evenly distributed throughout the year and periods of higher then normal workload may be unavoidable. Examples may include: annual budget preparation, preparation of public accounts etc.

Regularly Scheduled Work Hours:
The standard daily hours may vary by work area and are normally either seven hours, seven and one half hours, eight hours or twelve hours, or as defined by the employer.

Designated Project:
A project approved by the Deputy Minister that is outside of the normal day to day work of the department. Examples include: acquisition and implementation of new computer systems, major departmental restructuring, public inquiries etc.

Emergency Situations:
A sudden, urgent, usually unexpected event, demanding immediate action and typically caused by such things as: adverse weather conditions, power or water outages, accidents or other tragic events. Urgent administrative matters (i.e. urgent need for briefing notes) are not deemed to be emergency situations.

Employer:
As per the Financial Administration Act, the employer is the Treasury Board, a committee of the Executive Council responsible for all matters relating to the personnel management in the public service and of a public body.

Prolonged Periods of Time:
Overtime lasting in excess of four consecutive weeks.

Temporary Assignment:
The performance, in an acting capacity, of the full scope of the duties and responsibilities of another position which has a higher classification than an employee’s regular position as assigned in writing by the Deputy Minister, for the following periods:

  1. At least twenty days in the case of an employee whose existing classification is within the Management Pay Plan.
  2. At least five days in the case of all other employees.

^ Top of Page

Responsibilities

Department
It is the responsibility of departments to:

  • Plan work processes, program delivery and staff schedules to minimize overtime;
  • Make every reasonable effort to give adequate notice to employees who are required to work overtime;
  • Endeavour to provide employees with written approval for the performance of overtime, in advance of the actual performance of that overtime;
  • Establish and maintain a system of recording overtime;
  • Develop a plan of action to reduce/eliminate overtime especially when there is a pattern of required annual overtime;
  • Ensure that overtime is properly managed and monitored by employee’s supervisors; and
  • Submit reports of overtime worked by employees to Treasury Board as required.

Employees
It is the responsibility of employees to:

  • Obtain prior approval from the Deputy Minister before working overtime; and
  • Submit records of overtime worked on a weekly basis or as required by the department.

^ Top of Page

Compensation for Overtime

Compensation for management overtime must have the prior approval of the Deputy Minister. Compensation for work in excess of regularly scheduled work hours outside of the criteria established in this policy requires Treasury Board approval.

^ Top of Page

Calculation of Compensation

In situations when an employee is approved to work overtime resulting from emergency situations which require an immediate response and are determined to be beyond the normal operations of the department, the employee will be reimbursed at time and one half for each overtime hour worked based on the employee’s current salary.

In situations when an employee is approved to work overtime resulting from:

  1. Work performed on a designated project or negotiation where time constraints are significant, or
  2. Increased work demands, over a prolonged period of time, due to the cyclical nature of a department’s work.

The employee shall be compensated at straight time for each hour of overtime worked in excess of two and one half (2 ½ ) hours a week, based on the employee’s current salary.

An employee may request to receive time off in-lieu (TOIL) of overtime at straight time, within 72 hours of the overtime concluding. Employees are encouraged to use their TOIL in the same fiscal year as it is earned and, with the exception noted below, the maximum amount of TOIL an employee can carry forward into another fiscal year is 70 hours.

Effective September 1, 2012, existing accumulated TOIL hours may be retained by the employee. Employees with accumulated TOIL hours exceeding the maximum allowance of 70 hours will not be permitted to accrue more TOIL, until his/her TOIL balance is below 70 hours. Employees who work overtime and have TOIL in excess of 70 hours shall be reimbursed with pay only.

Overtime payment will be reimbursed at the employee’s permanent salary except where an employee is in a temporary assignment, overtime earned and paid during the period of temporary assignment will be paid at the temporary assignment rate of pay.

In cases in which a Deputy Minister does not consider the overtime compensation outlined in this policy to be appropriate, given the work situation in the department, an alternative method of compensation may be submitted to the Treasury Board for consideration.

^ Top of Page

Forms

^ Top of Page

Last Policy Update: March 1, 2012