Frequently Asked Questions

EXEMPT

Employees who meet all the following conditions are considered “exempt” from the overtime and record-keeping provisions of the FLSA:

• Employee is paid a predetermined and fixed salary not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality or quantity of work performed.
• Amount of the salary paid meets a minimum specified amount annually (currently $23,660 and moving to $47,476 on December 1, 2016).
• The employee’s job duties primarily involve executive, administrative, or professional duties as defined by the regulations.

NONEXEMPT

Employees who do not meet the above criteria are classified as “nonexempt” and thus subject to the overtime and record keeping provisions of the law. NonExempt employees are eligible for overtime and must record all hours worked in TimeTraq.

Nonexempt employees must be paid for all hours worked. Hours worked include all the time during which an employee is required to be on the employer’s premises, on duty, or at a prescribed workplace. The TAMUCC work week is Monday - Sunday, per System Regulation 31.01.09. The work week is particularly important in calculating overtime pay because overtime pay is paid based on the hours worked in the work week, not the pay period.

Please visit the Texas A&M System site for TimeTraq Help, located here.

Please visit the A&M System website for TimeTraq Help, located here.

Time spent answering e-mail that amounts to more than de minimus (insubstantial or insignificant) amounts of time each week is considered work time and must be reported in TimeTraq.

No, nonexempt employees must be compensated for all hours actually worked.

At this time, LeaveTraq does not have a unique identifier for logging time away from work due to enrollment in the Wellness Release Time program.  Supervisors reserve the right to change the time requested, decrease the amount of hours approved or revoke the approval due to business needs or abuse of the program. Supervisors are responsible for monitoring employee’s compliance with University Procedure 31.02.13.C0.01 Wellness Release Time Program.

Please visit Recreational Sports for additional information.

Attendance outside normal working hours for meetings, lectures, and/or training programs that are voluntary, and not specifically authorized or mandated, is not considered work time.

Nonexempt employees are awarded 1 1/2 hours of compensatory time off for every hour worked over 40 in the work week.  Paid leave—such as vacation and paid sick leave—and holidays do not count when determining these FLSA overtime hours.

State comp time is awarded if an employee hasn’t worked over 40 hours, but the total hours worked and hours of paid leave or holiday pay exceed 40 hours. State comp time is 1 hour of time for every hour over 40 (combined work and paid absence) in a workweek. 

An employee who is required to work on a holiday is entitled to compensatory time, for the amount of time worked on an hour-for-hour basis, to use during the 12 months after the holiday.

However, if total hours actually worked in the workweek exceed 40 for a nonexempt employee, FLSA overtime provisions apply.

System Policy

No. Overtime must be approved in advance by the supervisor. The supervisor may also adjust the schedule within the same work week to manage overtime.  The work week is Monday - Sunday.

Regardless of whether the overtime was approved, the employee must be paid accurately for hours worked, including overtime. However, the employee may be subject to disciplinary action for repeatedly working overtime that has not been approved in advance. Consult with Human Resources for more information.

A supervisor may adjust the schedule within the same work week before overtime has been worked. If you have an employee who works more than eight hours in one day, you may require him or her to work fewer hours on another day in the same workweek to avoid overtime.

Please note that the supervisor may not avoid overtime by adjusting the schedule in a different work week.

Yes, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is required to comply with the FLSA and must pay overtime regardless of the source of funding.

In general, employees may take comp time whenever they wish, unless doing so would disrupt departmental operations. Employees may be required to use their FLSA comp time or use before selecting vacation.

Employees must use all their FLSA comp time before going on leave without pay or using the sick leave pool, unless the unpaid leave is for military duty, disciplinary suspension, workers’ compensation, or Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave.

Employees keep their rights to FLSA comp time until they use it or are paid for it. When they leave employment, they’ll be paid for any remaining time or, with supervisor approval, remain on the payroll to use it up.

State comp time is different from FLSA. Non-exempt employees earn state comp time when the total of their hours worked, paid leave and holidays for a workweek are greater than 40. There is no limit to how much State comp time can be accrued but it must be used within 12 months after the end of the workweek in which it was earned.

The default is to bank comp time unless granting compensatory time off is impractical or an employee has accrued 240 hours of compensatory time.

The Request for Payment of Overtime Form is to be submitted to pay employees for overtime hours.

Train Traq Courses in Single Sign On (SSO)

   EMPLOYEES

• Course 2112755: Comp Time Issues for Employees
• Course 8002: Time Off Issues for Employees

   SUPERVISORS

• Course 2112756: Comp Time Issues for Supervisors
• Course 2001: Time Off Issues for Supervisors
• FLSA & Overtime Information (PDF)

Additional Resources

• FLSA FAQs - Department of Labor (DOL)
• Fact Sheet #22 - Defining Hours Worked 
• Fact Sheet #17A - Defining Exemptions