Overtime directive

Overview

This directive applies to opted out and excluded employees and covers overtime eligibility, rates, retroactive changes in rates of pay, and extra hours.

Entitlements for bargaining unit employees are contained in the Collective Agreement.

Overtime refers to all authorized hours worked in excess of normal daily hours, including authorized travel time. Travel time does not include time spent travelling to and from an employee’s residence and normal place of work. Normal daily hours are 7.25 hours depending on their regular work schedule.

Eligibility

An employee whose position is assigned an opted out or excluded class is eligible to receive overtime.

If an employee’s position is assigned a bargaining unit class, or if it has been assigned a bargaining unit class but has been excluded in accordance with Section 12 of the Public Service Employee Relations Act, the employee is eligible for overtime as set out in the Collective Agreement.

Overtime rates

Overtime pay or time off instead of pay will be calculated to the nearest quarter hour.

Opted out or excluded professional classes

(See Opted out and excluded pay plans and salary ranges.)

Employees will be paid or will receive time off instead of pay at the regular salary for all overtime hours worked. The deputy head will determine which method of payment is used. The Public Service Commissioner may approve a higher rate of payment at the request of the deputy head.

Excluded administrative support classes

(See Opted out and excluded pay plans and salary ranges.)

For normal work days, employees will be paid one and one-half times the regular hourly rate for the first two hours and double time for all hours after that.

For the first day of rest or for a scheduled day off under the hours of work averaging agreement, employees will be paid one and one-half times their regular hourly rate for the first 7.25 hours and double time for all hours after that. For the second consecutive day of rest, employees will be paid double time for all hours worked.

For paid holidays, employees will be paid one and one-half times their regular hourly rate for the first 7.25 hours and double time for all hours after that, and will receive a day off with pay at some other time.

Time off instead of overtime pay

An employee may claim time off instead of overtime pay. The employee’s supervisor must approve the time off. The employee must take the time off within 12 months of working the overtime and finalize the arrangements before the end of the current fiscal year, or the employee will be paid the overtime.

Retroactive overtime pay

Overtime pay is always calculated from the hourly rate an employee was earning when the overtime was worked. If the employee’s hourly rate is increased retroactively for any reason other than a negotiated increase or economic adjustment, the employee’s overtime pay rate should be calculated at the increased rate.

Extra time

If, for personal reasons, an employee requests to work extra daily or weekly hours and if that request is approved, the employee will be paid for all extra hours at the regular hourly rate of pay.

Guideline

Prior approval is required for all overtime worked by employees eligible for overtime compensation. The supervisor/manager is responsible to maintain a record of approvals granted for overtime worked by employees. Overtime hours worked must be reported on the Government of Alberta (GoA) time entry system in the pay period they are worked. Employees who choose to take compensatory time off for earned overtime, must record such absences on the GoA time entry system.

About this directive