Subpart N - Compensatory Time Off for Travel

This subpart contains OPM regulations implementing 5 U.S.C. 5550b, which establishes a separate type of compensatory time off. Subject to the conditions specified in this subpart, an employee is entitled to earn, on an hour-for-hour basis, compensatory time off for time in a travel status away from the employee's official duty station when the travel time is not otherwise compensable.

[70 FR 3856, Jan. 27, 2005, as amended at 72 FR 19098, Apr. 17, 2007]

This subpart applies to an employee as defined in 5 U.S.C. 5541(2) who is employed by an agency. In accordance with section 1111 of Public Law 110-181, an employee whose pay is fixed and adjusted from time to time in accordance with prevailing rates under subchapter IV of chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code, or by a wage board or similar administrative authority serving the same purpose, is covered by this subpart effective April 27, 2008.

[73 FR 30455, May 28, 2008]

In this subpart:

Accrued compensatory time off means the compensatory time off earned by an employee that has not been used or forfeited.

Agency means an Executive agency as defined in 5 U.S.C. 105.

Authorized agency official means the head of the agency or an official who is authorized to act for the head of the agency in the matter concerned.

Compensable refers to periods of time that are creditable as hours of work for the purpose of determining a specific pay entitlement, even when that work time may not actually generate additional compensation because of applicable pay limitations.

Compensatory time off means compensatory time off for travel that is credited under the authority of this subpart.

Official duty station means the geographic area surrounding an employee's regular work site that is the same as the area designated by the employing agency for the purpose of determining whether travel time is compensable for the purpose of determining overtime pay, consistent with the regulations in 5 CFR 550.112(j) and 551.422(d).

Regular working hours means the days and hours of an employee's regularly scheduled administrative workweek established under 5 CFR part 610.

Scheduled tour of duty for leave purposes means an employee's regular hours for which he or she may be charged leave under 5 CFR part 630 when absent. For full-time employees, it is the 40-hour basic workweek as defined in 5 CFR 610.102. For employees with an uncommon tour of duty as defined in 5 CFR 630.201, it is the uncommon tour of duty.

Travel means officially authorized travel—i.e., travel for work purposes that is approved by an authorized agency official or otherwise authorized under established agency policies. Time spent traveling in connection with union activities is excluded.

Travel status means travel time as described in § 550.1404 that is creditable in accruing compensatory time off for travel under this subpart, excluding travel time that is otherwise compensable under other legal authority.

[70 FR 3856, Jan. 27, 2005, as amended at 72 FR 19098, Apr. 17, 2007]

(a) General. Subject to the conditions specified in this subpart, an agency must credit an employee with compensatory time off for time in a travel status if—

(1) The employee is required to travel away from the official duty station; and

(2) The travel time is not otherwise compensable hours of work under other legal authority.

(b)(1) Travel status. Time in a travel status includes the time an employee actually spends traveling between the official duty station and a temporary duty station, or between two temporary duty stations, and the usual waiting time that precedes or interrupts such travel, subject to the exclusion specified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section and the requirements in paragraph (c), (d) and (e) of this section. Time spent at a temporary duty station between arrival and departure is not time in a travel status. Time in a travel status ends when the employee arrives at the temporary duty worksite or his or her lodging in the temporary duty station, wherever the employee arrives first. Time in a travel status resumes when an employee departs from the temporary duty worksite or his or her lodging in the temporary duty station, from whichever the employee departs last. Travel time in connection with an employee's permanent change of station is not time in a travel status. Determinations regarding what is creditable as “usual waiting time” are within the sole and exclusive discretion of the employing agency.

(2) If an employee experiences an extended (i.e., not usual) waiting time between actual periods of travel during which the employee is free to rest, sleep, or otherwise use the time for his or her own purposes, the extended waiting time is not creditable as time in a travel status.

(c) Travel between home and a temporary duty station. (1) If an employee is required to travel directly between his or her home and a temporary duty station outside the limits of the employee's official duty station, the travel time is creditable as time in a travel status if otherwise qualifying under this subpart. However, the agency must deduct from such travel hours the time the employee would have spent in normal home-to-work or work-to-home commuting.

(2) In the case of an employee who is offered one mode of transportation and who is permitted to use an alternative mode of transportation, or who travels at a time or by a route other than that selected by the agency, the agency must determine the estimated amount of time in a travel status the employee would have had if the employee had used the mode of transportation offered by the agency or traveled at the time or by the route selected by the agency. In determining time in a travel status under this subpart, the agency must credit the employee with the lesser of the estimated time in a travel status or the actual time in a travel status.

(3) In the case of an employee who is on a multiple-day travel assignment and who chooses, for personal reasons, not to use temporary lodgings at the temporary duty station, but to return home at night or on a weekend, only travel from home to the temporary duty station on the 1st day and travel from the temporary duty station to home on the last day that is otherwise qualifying as time in a travel status under this subpart is mandatorily creditable (subject to the deduction of normal commuting time). Travel to and from home on other days is not creditable travel time unless the agency, at its discretion, determines that credit should be given based on the net savings to the Government from reduced lodging costs, considering the value of lost labor time attributable to compensatory time off. The dollar value of an hour of compensatory time off for this purpose is equal to the employee's hourly rate of basic pay as defined in § 550.103.

(d) Time spent traveling to or from a transportation terminal as part of travel away from the official duty station. If an employee is required to travel between home and a transportation terminal (e.g., airport or train station) within the limits of his or her official duty station as part of travel away from that duty station, the travel time outside regular working hours to or from the terminal is considered to be equivalent to commuting time and is not creditable time in a travel status. If the transportation terminal is outside the limits of the employee's official duty station, the travel time to or from the terminal outside regular working hours is creditable as time in a travel status, but is subject to an offset for the time the employee would have spent in normal home-to-work or work-to-home commuting. If the employee travels between a worksite and a transportation terminal, the travel time outside regular working hours is creditable as time in a travel status, and no commuting time offset applies.

(e) Travel involving two or more time zones. When an employee's travel involves two or more time zones, the time zone from the point of first departure must be used to determine how many hours the employee actually spent in a travel status for the purpose of accruing compensatory time off.

[70 FR 3856, Jan. 27, 2005, as amended at 72 FR 19098, Apr. 17, 2007]

(a) Upon a request filed in accordance with the procedures established under paragraph (b) of this section, an employee is entitled to credit for compensatory time off for travel under the conditions specified in this subpart. The employing agency must credit an employee with compensatory time off for creditable time in a travel status as provided in § 550.1404. The agency may authorize credit in increments of one-tenth of an hour (6 minutes) or one-quarter of an hour (15 minutes). Agencies must track and manage compensatory time off granted under this subpart separately from other forms of compensatory time off.

(b) An employee must comply with his or her agency's procedures for requesting credit of compensatory time off under this section. Employees must file such requests within the time period required by the agency. An employee's request for credit of compensatory time off for travel may be denied if the request is not filed within the time period required by the agency.

[70 FR 3856, Jan. 27, 2005, as amended at 72 FR 19098, Apr. 17, 2007]

(a) An employee must request permission from his or her supervisor to schedule the use of his or her accrued compensatory time off in accordance with agency-established policies and procedures.

(b) Compensatory time off may be used when the employee is granted time off from his or her scheduled tour of duty established for leave purposes. An employee must use earned compensatory time off under this subpart in increments of one-tenth of an hour (6 minutes) or one-quarter of an hour (15 minutes). Agencies must charge compensatory time off in the chronological order in which it was earned, with compensatory time off earned first being charged first.

[70 FR 3856, Jan. 27, 2005, as amended at 72 FR 19098, Apr. 17, 2007]

(a) After 26 pay periods. (1) Except as provided in paragraphs (a)(2) and (e) of this section, an employee must use accrued compensatory time off by the end of the 26th pay period after the pay period during which it was earned. If an employee fails to use the compensatory time off within 26 pay periods after it was earned, he or she must forfeit such compensatory time off.

(2) If an employee with unused compensatory time off separates from Federal service or is placed in a leave without pay status in the following circumstances and later returns to service with the same (or successor) agency, the employee must use all of the compensatory time off by the end of the 26th pay period following the pay period in which the employee returns to duty, or such compensatory time off will be forfeited:

(i) The employee separates or is placed in a leave without pay status to perform service in the uniformed services (as defined in 38 U.S.C. 4303 and 5 CFR 353.102) and later returns to service through the exercise of a reemployment right provided by law, Executive order, or regulation; or

(ii) The employee separates or is placed in a leave without pay status because of an on-the-job injury with entitlement to injury compensation under 5 U.S.C. chapter 81 and later recovers sufficiently to return to work.

(b) Upon transfer to another agency. When an employee voluntarily transfers to another agency (including a promotion or change to lower grade action), he or she must forfeit his or her unused compensatory time off.

(c) Upon separation. (1) When an employee separates from Federal service, any unused compensatory time off is forfeited, except as provided in paragraph (c)(2) of this section.

(2) Unused compensatory time off will not be forfeited but will be held in abeyance in the case of an employee who separates from Federal service and later returns to service with the same (or successor) agency under the circumstances described in paragraph (a)(2) of this section.

(d) Upon movement to a noncovered position. When an employee moves to a Federal position not covered by this subpart, he or she forfeits any unused compensatory time off. This requirement does not prevent an agency from using another legal authority to give the employee credit for compensatory time off equal to the forfeited amount.

(e) Exception due to an exigency. If an employee fails to use his or her compensatory time earned under § 550.1404(a) by the end of the 26th pay period after the pay period during which it was earned due to an exigency of the service beyond the employee's control, an authorized agency official, at his or her sole and exclusive discretion, may extend the time limit for using such compensatory time off for travel for up to an additional 26 pay periods.

[70 FR 3856, Jan. 27, 2005, as amended at 72 FR 19098, Apr. 17, 2007]

As provided by 5 U.S.C. 5550b(b), an individual may not receive payment under any circumstances for any unused compensatory time off he or she earned under this subpart. This prohibition against payment applies to surviving beneficiaries in the event of the individual's death.

Accrued compensatory time off under this subpart is not considered in applying the premium pay limitations established under 5 U.S.C. 5547 and 5 CFR 550.105 through 550.107 or the aggregate limitation on pay established under 5 U.S.C. 5307 and 5 CFR part 530, subpart B.