Overtime in the Nebraska Court System shall be held to a minimum. Only in times of emergency or with prior approval of the supervisor and the Administrative Office should overtime be permitted.
Overtime is considered time in excess of the designated 40‑hour workweek. Leave time (vacation, sick, etc., with the exception of holiday leave) shall not be considered as hours worked. Before any time can be considered as overtime, an employee must work, not just get paid for, 40 hours during the designated workweek. Time in excess of the 40‑hour workweek may then be considered overtime.
The designated workweek shall be from 8 a.m. on Friday to 8 a.m. the following Friday. All employees shall be informed of the designated workweek. Full-time employees shall account for at least 40 hours of work or leave time per week. Management sets each employee’s work schedule. The work week and work schedule of each employee shall be documented by each office.
Amended 7-12-06
The Administrative Office shall determine, in compliance with Fair Labor Standards Act requirements, the exempt or nonexempt status of all employees for overtime purposes. The status will be indicated on each job description.
Exempt‑‑Employees exempt from overtime include those designated as professional, administrative, supervisory, or executive.
Nonexempt‑‑All nonexempt employees must be compensated at one and one-half times their hourly rate in the form of either pay or compensatory time off, at the administrative office’s discretion, for hours worked over 40 in a workweek
Upon proper authorization, employees may accumulate the maximum of 240 hours of compensatory time (160 hours of overtime worked). Accumulated compensatory time shall be used within 6 months. Cash must be paid at a time‑and‑one‑half rate for overtime beyond those limits. A nonexempt employee's schedule may be altered within the workweek so that his or her work hours do not exceed 40. (For example, an employee working 2 extra hours on Monday may be directed to take 2 hours off on Tuesday.) When it is not possible to obtain prior approval for required overtime work and when that time cannot be compensated either through an adjusted workweek or with compensatory time, then a written request from the supervisor to the Administrative Office is required for payment of overtime.
When possible, approved overtime shall be offered on a rotating basis beginning with the employee with the most seniority, although overtime may be assigned to an employee based on immediate availability or special job qualifications, however, the assignment of overtime will not be done in a discriminatory manner. If there are no volunteers, employees will be required to work overtime on a rotating basis beginning with the employee with the least seniority. Also, with the exception of probation officers and official court reporters, whenever possible when overtime is required, the employee shall be notified in advance that overtime work is, or may be, needed. Any employee not given such notice may decline to work the requested overtime hours with no penalty attached.
It is the responsibility of the supervisor to monitor overtime for an employee. A record of all overtime shall be included on time sheets required by the Administrative Office. At times, a supervisor may direct an employee to take some accumulated compensatory time. The employee in such case must be notified at least 24 hours in advance of the compensatory time to be taken.
Payment for accrued compensatory time upon termination of employment shall be calculated at the average regular rate of pay for the final 3 years of employment, or the final regular rate received by the employee, whichever is greater.
Amended 7-16-03
Travel time of non-exempt employees required to attend a meeting, conference, seminar, training course, etc., is considered compensable time. A non-exempt employee traveling for one day (not overnight) shall be paid for all travel time. This travel time is counted when computing hours worked for overtime purposes.
Adopted 7-16-03