Compensation

Procedure 31: Hours of Work and Attendance Records


This UCI Personnel Procedure is being revised.
Please contact your Human Resources Business Partner for guidance and
REFER TO POLICIES FOUND AT UCNET PERSONNEL POLICIES FOR STAFF MEMBERS.

Responsible Office: Human Resources
Revised:
June 2013

A. References


Personnel Policies for Staff Members

UC Accounting Manual

  • P196-13, Payroll: Attendance, Time Reporting, and Leave Accrual Records

UCI Delegations of Authority

  • IDA335 [rescinded 8/21/15], Ancillary Pay Practices

UCI Job Titles and Salaries

B. Authority and Responsibility


The Assistant Vice Chancellor-Human Resources and the Assistant Medical Center Director - Director, Human Resources may approve requests for alternate workweeks and determine eligible classes and rates for on-call assignments.

Department heads may approve alternate work schedules and partial-year appointments as well as determine when on-call assignments and call-back are necessary, in consultation with Human Resources.

Department heads exercise control over assigning work, ensuring accurate designation of hours worked for non-exempt employees, and ensuring that work is not performed by non-exempt employees during time periods designated as non-work hours (typically meal periods and before and after the standard daily work schedule).

Department heads ensure that accurate time and attendance records for non-exempt employees are reported to Payroll. Exempt employees record and maintain accurate attendance records.

Non-exempt employees must obtain approval prior to working overtime.

C. Hours of Work - Definition and Procedure


  1. Standard Workweek

    The standard workweek is from 12:01 a.m. Sunday to midnight the following Saturday. When circumstances require, the Assistant Vice Chancellor, Human Resources or the Assistant Medical Center Director - Director, Human Resources may approve alternate workweeks of any other seven consecutive 24-hour periods. (For example, a workweek from Wednesday through the following Tuesday may be established where weekend activity is consistently required.)

  2. Standard Work Schedule

    The standard work schedule for full-time employees is eight hours per day on five consecutive days from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with one hour for a meal period.

  3. Alternate Work Schedule

    The department head may approve an alternate (flexible) work schedule for the entire department, or for individual employees, in accordance with the following:

    1. An alternate work schedule shall consist of 40 hours in one designated workweek.
    2. Overtime shall be in accordance with Policy 32.
  4. Hours of Work - (Non-Exempt Employees Only)

Hours of work include all the time an employee is required to be on the employer’s premises, on duty, or at a prescribed work place. Work not requested by department managers but "suffered or permitted" is considered work time. If the department manager knows, or has reason to believe, that work is being performed, the hours must be counted as time worked.

  • Meal Periods - (Non-Exempt Employees Only)

    Meal periods are considered neither time worked nor time on pay status, provided the employee is substantially duty free.

  • Rest Periods - (Non-Exempt Employees Only)

    A rest period shall not be added to a meal period or taken at the beginning or end of a work period. Time not used for rest periods shall not be accumulated for use on another day. Rest periods are scheduled by the supervisor, and rest period privileges may be withdrawn by the supervisor if such privileges are abused. Operational requirements may at times require the uninterrupted presence of the employee. In such situations, rest breaks will not be granted. Policy exceptions permitting the rest periods to be combined with the meal period for some or all employees of a department may be made by the department manager. Rest periods are considered time worked.

  • Activities Before or After the Work Schedule - (Non-Exempt Employees Only)

    When the University requires that the employee must change into or out of uniform, engage in special washing or cleaning procedures, or perform other activities on or at a University facility before or after the work period, the time spent in such activities shall be considered time worked.

  • Call Back Time - (Non-Exempt Employees Only)

    Call-back should be resorted to only in emergency situations or unusual instances when it is not possible for the work to be accomplished through normal scheduling or scheduling of overtime.

  • On-Call - (Non-Exempt Employees Only)

    Eligibility for on-call pay and the established on-call rates are listed in the UCI Job Titles and Salaries. On-call duty is assigned and scheduled by the department manager in advance, and the employee is informed in advance of the on-call status. Employees in on-call status are required to inform the employer how they can be reached or to carry a pager in order to receive a call to work. An employee in on-call status is not eligible for minimum call-back payments.

D. Attendance Records


  1. Exempt Employees
    1. Attendance records shall contain the employee’s name, workweek, and work schedule, if not standard, and account information by source of funds.
    2. Because exempt employees are paid a predetermined salary each pay period and are not paid based on hours worked, they shall not be required to record their work time or adhere to strict time record keeping and attendance rules for purposes of receiving their salary. However, in some cases, employees may be required to report hours worked for fund accounting purposes.
    3. Leaves with and without pay shall be used in full-day increments only, or in increments not less than that portion of a day during which an employee on less than full-time pay status is normally scheduled to work. Absences of less than a day shall not be charged against accrued leave time.
    4. When an employee has exhausted all available accrued leave, salary shall not be reduced for absences of less than a full day, or less than that portion of a day during which an employee on less than full-time pay status is normally scheduled to work.
  2. Non-Exempt Employees
    1. Attendance records shall contain the employee’s name, workweek, and work schedule, if not standard. Records of time worked and leave accruals (including compensatory time accrual balances) shall be maintained to the nearest ¼ hour for each workweek. All absences with and without pay, including sick leave, extended sick leave, vacation leave, holidays, military leave, jury duty, voting time, and compensatory time off shall be recorded to the nearest 1/4 hour for each workweek.
    2. At the end of the workweek, any overtime worked must be designated either as overtime earned at the straight-time rate or as overtime earned at the premium rate.
    3. The maximum accrual for compensatory time earned at the premium rate is 240 hours (160 hours of actual overtime work at time and one-half). An employee shall be paid for hours of premium overtime that exceed the maximum compensatory time accrual limit. Departments are advised to maintain separate compensatory time records for straight-time and premium compensatory time accruals. There is no maximum accrual for compensatory time earned at the straight-time rate.

E. Applicability


Exempt and non-exempt staff members, except employees who are in a bargaining unit that has an exclusive representative (union) and are covered by the applicable provisions of the collective bargaining agreement.