If an employee is required to attend training related to their job, the training is considered involuntary, and the employee must be paid for the time.

According to the Department of Labor, training is not work time if all four of the following criteria are met:

• Training is outside of working hours, and
• Training is voluntary, and
• Training is not directly related to the job, and
• The employee has no productive work during attendance.

If all four criteria are met, the training would be voluntary, and the employee would not be paid.

Yes, however, you need to be aware of how the regulations define compensable time (those hours that must be counted towards 40 hours in the workweek). For more information regarding travel click here (PDF).

Yes. Flex scheduling is allowed within the same work week. As an example, let’s say a typical schedule is 8 hours a day during the day, and the department needs an employee to work a special event for 4 hours during the evening. The schedule may be changed to give the employee 4 hours of time off at another time during the same work week.

Yes, you can adjust the work hours of an employee to meet the needs of the department. When possible, advance notice (a minimum of two weeks), of such changes should be given to the employee. You can rearrange hours within the same week, but the regulations do not allow you to move hours from one week to the next. The determination of 40 hours “worked” must also include vacation and sick time, per administrative policy 6-07.9.

You have the right to alter employees’ work schedules to avoid working overtime and to meet the needs of the department. Keep in mind that being proactive and providing advance notice (a minimum of two weeks) of such changes should be given to employees when possible.

Employees can cash out comp time by emailing Payroll@kent.edu with the following information:

• The amount of hours they wish to cash out
• Which payroll they want it to be paid
• Their Kent State Banner ID

Yes. For each hour over 40 hours in a work, employees receive one and one-half hours of comp time. Comp time may be accrued up to a maximum of one hundred twenty hours (eighty hours of overtime actually worked). Once the maximum of comp time has been accrued, any additional overtime will automatically be paid to employees per administrative policy 6-07.9. Employees aren’t able to earn any more comp time until they use or cash out some of the hours.

Employees can use comp time whenever they choose. However, they need to obtain pre-approval from you in order to use it. Please see administrative policy 6-07.9 for more information regarding comp time.

As a supervisor, you have the right to require an employee to work overtime. However, you CANNOT require an employee to accept comp time. Under the regulations the employee must have the choice to either be paid overtime or given comp time. You can ask an employee to work overtime and tell them that you can only offer comp time for the additional hours. In this case, the employee can either accept that or not. If they don’t accept it and it’s critical that you have the employee work overtime, then you will need to pay the employee overtime.