Public Employers Aren't Obligated To Let Employees Use Comp Time On The Specific Dates Requested

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides that hourly employees who work in excess of 40 hours per week must generally be compensated for that excess work at a rate not less than 1.5 times their regular hourly wage. However, states and their political subdivisions are allowed the alternative option of compensating employees by giving them compensatory time (or "comp time") off at a rate of 1.5 hours for every hour of overtime worked. 29 USC Section 207(o)(6), which relates to the use of that comp time, states that a public employee who has requested the use of comp time "shall be permitted by the ... employer to use such time within a reasonable period after making the request if the use of the compensatory time does not unduly disrupt the operations of the public agency." The 9th Circuit held that "the text of Section 207(o)(5) unambiguously states that once an employee requests the use of [comp time], the employer has a reasonable period of time to allow the employee to use accrued time." The 5th Circuit, the only other circuit to squarely address this issue, came to the same conclusion. The court rejected a Department of Labor regulation (29 CFR Section 553.25) which provides that a public employee's request to use comp time for a specific day off "shall be honored unless to do so would be 'unduly disruptive' to the agency's operations."

Mortensen v. County of Sacramento

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The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ jurisdiction includes California , Oregon , Washington , Arizona , Montana , Idaho , Nevada , Alaska and Hawaii .

This abstract was provided by LawMemo.Com, publisher of the popular Employment Law Memo email service. Editor Ross Runkel can be reached at Ross@LawMemo.Com or 1-877-399-8028.

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