EL PASO COUNTY SHERIFF S OFFICE POLICY AND PROCEDURE MANUAL Effective Date: 03/12/15 Supersedes: 02/21/07 Approval: Number: 318 Subject: ATTENDANCE RECORDS Reference: FLSA Standard: Chapter: III Reevaluation Date: Annual No. Pages: 5 I. PURPOSE: Provide guidance for the proper completion of attendance and time tracking records. II. DEFINITIONS: ATTENDANCE RECORDS: Schedule and time tracking information of employees. COMPENSATORY-BALANCE (COMP BAL) TIME: Compensatory Current time which is carried forward into the next work cycle and converted at a rate of one and one half (1 ½) times. This time may be used as leave time or be paid at the regular hourly rate. COMPENSATORY-CURRENT (COMP CUR) TIME: Time worked over an employee s salaried hours for a given work cycle. Any Compensatory Current time earned and not taken during a work cycle is converted to Compensatory Balance time at the end of the work cycle. COMPENSATORY TIME TAKEN: Time off taken by an employee whereby they utilize either Compensatory Current or Compensatory Balance hours currently accrued. EXEMPT: Employees classified by the Sheriff as administrative or executive positions. The ranks of lieutenant and above are exempt positions. Exempt positions may also be held by lieutenant rank equivalent civilians. EXTRA DUTY: Hours worked for an established rate of pay. These duties may be sporadic or occasional and solely at the option of the employee and are entirely outside of an employee s normal work duties and salary structure. HOURS WORKED: All hours, including minutes rounded up or down to quarterly increments, worked in the performance of the assigned duty. This does not include Extra Duty. LEAVE TIME: Other hours calculated in the 40 hour or 160 hour work cycle totals. Such as vacation, sick time, holiday hours, bereavement leave, and military leave. NON-EXEMPT: Employees classified by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as non-administrative or non-executive positions. Attendance records must be kept for all non-exempt employees. OVERTIME: Hours worked over the regular allotted hours in the scheduled work day. OVERTIME PAY: Pay compensation at one and one half (1 ½) times an employee s regular hourly salary rate. Overtime hours are mutually exclusive of any Compensatory Current or Compensatory Balance time. 03/12/15 WDE/ga 1
TRAINING OFFICERS: Deputies or civilians which train individuals transferring to their specific organizational unit for the first time. FIELD TRAINING OFFICER (FTO): Deputies who train others transferring to the Patrol Division for the first time (completing the 14 week training program). DETENTION TRAINING OFFICER (DTO): Deputies who train others transferring to Detentions Floor Security Division from the training academy (new hire). COMMUNICATIONS TRAINING OFFICER (CTO): Civilian dispatchers who train hired emergency services dispatchers. the newly SALARIED HOURS: Amount of normal and regular hours for an employee in a work cycle. Civilian employees have 40 salaried hours in a work cycle. Sworn employees have 160 salaried hours in a work cycle. WORK CYCLE: Attendance record cycle of seven (7) days for civilian; attendance record cycle of 28 days for sworn employees. Sworn employees fall under the 7k exemption. 7K EXEMPTION: The Fair Labor Standards Act regulation that gives law enforcement and fire fighting officials the flexibility to schedule employees on work cycles in excess of seven (7) days, but less than 28 days. III. POLICY: It is the policy of the Sheriff s Office that each supervisor track and maintain all hours worked, leave time, compensatory time (current and balance), and overtime, collectively known as attendance records, for all employees under his/her supervision. Each supervisor shall maintain these records in good faith and accurately in order to meet the Sheriff s Office requirements and any applicable federal documentation requirements. Leave time of exempt employees shall likewise be maintained by designated personnel within each Bureau. IV. EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT: Employment with the County constitutes an agreement and understanding between the employee and the County that compensatory time off will be given in lieu of overtime pay at the discretion of the Office. This agreement to provide compensatory time off in lieu of cash overtime compensation is a condition of employment with the County. Any compensatory time earned by an employee constitutes a legal liability for the County. The Sheriff's Office has the option, within the limits of the Fair Labor Standards Act and its budget, to determine the manner of compensation for overtime worked. V. PROCEDURE A. ATTENDANCE RECORDS 1. All attendance and leave time records shall be kept in the On Duty Public Safety Scheduling System. 2. Attendance records shall be kept for all non-exempt, temporary, and part-time employees. 3. Leave time records shall be kept for all exempt employees. 4. The unit or section supervisor shall be primarily responsible for maintaining all attendance records for each employee in the unit/section. 5. If the unit or section supervisor will be absent from the office for three or more days, the designated individual acting on behalf of the supervisor shall be responsible for maintaining attendance records for all employees in the unit/section. Alternatively, a supervisor may name another individual to act in this capacity. If the supervisor fails to name an individual in either of the above mentioned scenarios, the next higher ranking employee in the supervisor s chain of command shall be responsible for maintaining attendance records of all employees in the unit/section. 6. All attendance and leave time records shall be maintained on a daily basis. 03/12/15 WDE/ga 2
B. ON DUTY PUBLIC SAFETY SCHEDULING SYSTEM (On Duty): a software system administered by the IT Section, the Personnel Unit, and the Professional Standards Unit for the purpose of maintaining attendance and leave time records. 1. All relevant portions of Policies 203 and 214 apply to On Duty. 2. A training manual is maintained and kept current for On Duty. This manual explains in detail how the system operates and how attendance and leave records are to be kept within the system. The training manual is located in the following network location: \\blue\shr\on Duty Project\training\Training Manual-On Duty UPDATE The training manual is also posted with the Sheriff s Office policies and procedures. 3. The On Duty Training Manual is to be considered as a specific written directive in conjunction with Policy 318. C. HOLIDAY TIME 1. El Paso County normally authorizes each employee 12 paid, eight (8) hour, holidays per year, and 2 paid personal days. This equates to 112 hours of holiday time per year. This is subject to change by the Board of County Commissioners (BoCC). 2. Personnel who normally work a 5/2 schedule and are normally off on observed holidays, should be granted their holiday on the observed holiday. This would apply to units/sections that are normally closed on observed holidays, such as Administrative Services, Records, Investigations, Training, etc. If, for some reason, an employee works the observed holiday, they must be given a day off prior to the end of the current calendar year or be granted compensatory time. 3. Personnel who are scheduled to work shifts that do not permit taking holidays on the observed holiday will be scheduled for 112 hours of holiday time during the year. A systematic method of scheduling should be used to ensure that all personnel receive their holiday time without a negative impact on operational requirements. 4. If an employee is not employed for the full year, they will be granted eight (8) hours of holiday time for each holiday they are employed during the calendar year. The employee will also be granted up to 16 hours of personal holiday time for that calendar year. The personal hours will be earned in half year increments for each holiday that occurs during their employment, eight (8) hours for the first six months of the year and eight (8) hours for the second half of the year. 5. Due to the difference between the scheduling time and the actual dates of the holidays, it is possible for an employee to have more or less holiday time taken or earned at the time of leaving County employment. This will be adjusted by the Personnel Unit at the time of termination of County employment. 6. Holiday time not taken in the calendar year it was earned must be carried over into the new year. Holiday hours are carried at a rate of one to one and added to the employees compensatory time balance. D. SICK AND VACATION TIME 1. It is the responsibility of the employee to manage their sick and vacation time. 2. Sick and Vacation time accrue on a monthly basis according to County Policy. This accrual is based on date of hire and length of service. 3. Sick and Vacation time accruals are subject to a maximum cap as set in County Policy. Once a maximum cap has been reached for sick or vacation time, an employee will no longer accrue this leave time until such time as the employee reduces the balance of time available to below the maximum allowed cap. 4. Sick and Vacation time shall accrue on the last day of the month. E. COMPENSATORY TIME (COMP TIME) 1. It is the responsibility of the supervisor to manage all compensatory time for employees in his/her unit or section to the benefit of the Office. 2. Supervisors must consider the cost of allowing an employee to incur hours in Compensatory Balance against the staffing needs of their section or unit. 03/12/15 WDE/ga 3
3. Excessive levels of Compensatory Balance are discouraged. Likewise, it is understood that some value of Compensatory Balance time is expected for any employee. There is no absolute requirement that forbids an employee from rolling time into Compensatory Balance at the end of a work cycle. 4. Conversion of other Leave Types to Compensatory Current Time a) It is generally acknowledged that a supervisor may change vacation or holiday leave to compensatory time taken in an effort to manage Compensatory Time within a single work cycle. b) Such a change in leave time must occur in coordination with the subordinate. c) A planned and approved block of vacation time for an employee should not be changed to another leave type. Such a change would be in direct contradiction to the employee managing their vacation time. F. PRINTED TIME CARD REPORTS 1. Supervisors shall print and sign a Time Card Report at the end of each 28 day work cycle for each employee in his/her section or unit. 2. Employees shall review and sign this printed Time Card Report. 3. A staff officer shall review each printed and signed Time Card Report. The staff officer will be reviewing Time Card Reports for the following reasons: a) Ensure accuracy of records. b) Ensure compliance with policy and procedure, such as granting military reserve leave, compensatory time or holiday time as required. c) Identify patterns that may indicate abuse of overtime and/or sick leave. d) Audit entries made on the time card report with the duty schedule, in order to ensure the information is being entered into the On Duty system accurately. e) Identify poor management practices, such as poor scheduling by supervisors, etc. G. PERSONNEL UNIT PROCESS: The Personnel Unit is responsible for running the following processes. 1. Deduct Leave Wizard this is run on a daily basis. The Deduct Leave Wizard is the tool whereby adjustments to schedules and leave times are applied to an employee s record in On Duty. 2. Compensatory Time Wizard this is run at the end of each work cycle. For civilian employees, this occurs on a weekly basis. And for sworn employees, this occurs at the end of a 28 day work cycle. a) For civilian employees, the Compensatory Time Wizard will be run every Tuesday after 1200 hours for the previous 7 day work cycle. b) For sworn employees, the Compensatory Time Wizard will be run on Thursday after 1200 hours following the end of a 28 day work cycle. 3. On Duty entry deadlines a) To facilitate the running of the Compensatory Time Wizard, the following deadlines are hereby established. 1. All entries and adjustments to civilian employee attendance records MUST be completed by supervisors no later than 1200 hours on the Tuesday following the end of a civilian 7 day work cycle. 2. All entries and adjustments to sworn employee attendance records MUST be completed by supervisors no later than 1200 hours on Thursday following the end of a sworn work 28 day work cycle. 3. To enforce these established deadlines, the previous work cycle dates will be locked in the On Duty system. b) Any changes to On Duty for a date that has been locked must be made as a request in memo form to the Personnel Unit. 4. After the entry and adjustment deadline expires for a 28 day work cycle, the Personnel Unit will run the Payroll Exception report. This report will then be used for entering sick and vacation leave hours taken for each employee into the County payroll system. 03/12/15 WDE/ga 4
H. EXEMPT EMPLOYEES 1. Employees in the rank of lieutenant or the equivalent or others as individually designated are classified as Exempt employees, unless otherwise directed by the Sheriff. They are permitted to do volunteer work without compensation. 2. Exempt employees, except as authorized by the Sheriff or the Undersheriff, will not be compensated for overtime hours worked. An attendance record may be maintained for each of these personnel. Extra duty assignments for private employers are not authorized. Exempt employees may perform volunteer work comparable with their rank and/or authority. I. HOURLY EMPLOYEES 1. Hourly employees are defined as part-time or temporary employees. 2. Hourly employees will be paid overtime for compensable hours in excess of salaried hours for the work period. 3. Hourly employees do not receive any benefits other than Workmen's Compensation. The only compensable time they receive is actual hours worked. 4. Hourly employees do not receive and are not eligible to take leave time. J. RECORD RETENTION 1. At the end of each calendar year, each supervisor will prepare their employees signed attendance records for storage. 2. The records for each employee will be submitted in chronological order. 3. The records will then be placed in alphabetical order by the employee s last name and submitted to the Personnel Unit by January 31 st. K. COMPENSATORY AND OVERTIME PAYMENT 1. Payment of accumulated Compensatory time shall be submitted to the Personnel Unit via Chain of Command using the Payment of Compensatory Time submittal form. 2. Payment of overtime worked shall be submitted to the Personnel Unit via Chain of Command using the Overtime Payment submittal form. VI. SUPERCEDENCE OF RECORDS Although sick and vacation leave time accrual data is maintained in On Duty, the official records of such accrual are maintained in the County payroll database (J.D. Edwards). In the event that these two data sets conflict, the data set in the County payroll database will control over any information in On Duty. 03/12/15 WDE/ga 5