Hours of Work

The work schedule defines the basic work requirement as the number of hours, excluding overtime hours, an employee is required to work or charge to leave.  Generally, a full-time employee’s basic work requirement is 80 hours in a pay period.  Attendance and absence must be consistent with the employment status for the individual.  An approved work schedule for each employee will be maintained showing the planned arrival and departure for each day.  It is a mutual employee-management responsibility to plan and schedule work to meet mission requirements.

Authorized work schedules for NPS include:

• Flexitour: Employee/Supervisor select start/stop times within the flexible hours.  Employee adheres to those times unless otherwise agreed.  Flexible hours are typically between 6:30 am and 9:00 am and 1500-18:00 (may vary by department).  Employee works 8 hours each day and 40 hours each week.
• Variable Day (daily flexibility): Schedule can vary each day around the core hours, but you must complete 40 hours each workweek and can’t work fewer hours one week than the other during biweekly pay period.  This schedule may have varied hours on different days, (e.g. two 6.5-hour days, 3 9-hour days) as long as you were on the job during core hours.  You are not paid overtime for the extra hour on each 9-hour day.  Those hours are counted as “base hours” and used to make up the 40 hour weekly work requirement.
• Maxi Flex (the most flexible schedule): Contains core hours, which may be established for fewer than 10 workdays during each biweekly pay period. Schedules may include more hours in one week than the next. The basic requirement is to complete 80 hours of work during each biweekly pay period.
• Compressed Work Schedule: An 80-hour biweekly basic work requirement that is scheduled for less than 10 workdays and that may require the employee to work more than 8 hours in a day (e.g. 5/4-9 with Regular Day Off (RDO)).

Work schedule change request forms are available on the NPS FMD-Timekeeping Division page.  

Visit OPM's Pay& Leave section to view additional information on flexible work schedules and compressed work schedules.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

The federal overtime provisions are contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Unless exempt, employees covered by the Act must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay.