Policy 12

Work Hours, Overtime and Additional Work - Support Staff

Approved Executive Committee of the Board of Governors 67.23

WORK HOURS, OVERTIME AND ADDITIONAL WORK - SUPPORT STAFF

PRINCIPLE

  1. The University seeks to pay in an equitable manner work performed beyond regular working hours. It also strives to apply regulations and policies that ensure the sound and efficient management of its human resources.

    OBJECTIVES

  2. In accordance with the above principles, the University pursues the following objectives:

    1. to keep overtime and additional work to a minimum;
    2. to establish rules governing:
      • hours of work
      • pay for hours of work
      • the payment of overtime and additional work applicable to all regular
        members of support staff, without exception, except for those specified
        in this policy.

    DEFINITIONS

  3. OVERTIME: Overtime applies to the extra hours of work a support staff member puts in performing the duties of his or her position. They are paid on the basis of the hourly rate of the position occupied by the employee.

    ADDITIONAL WORK: Applies to the work performed by a support staff member outside his or her normal working hours and in functions pertaining to a position other than his or her own, at the University of Ottawa. This type of work must be paid at the employee’s regular rate, with any adjustments required to take into account the total hours worked in a week and the application of an overtime rate. Such work will be allowed as long as there are no adverse effects on the work performance of the employee during his or her normal hours of work and the person’s immediate supervisor is informed accordingly.

  4. In all instances, the pay granted must comply with this policy. The terms and conditions of policy 70 must also be taken into consideration.

    REGULAR WORKING HOURS

  5.  
    1. For support staff receiving an annual salary, the annual average length of the normal work week is 35 hours, for a total of 1,820 hours a year. From September to May inclusively, the normal work week is thirty-six and a quarter hours (36 1/4) , and the normal daily schedule is 8:45 a.m. to 5 p.m., with an unpaid hour allowed for lunch (generally from noon to 1 p.m.). From June to August inclusively, the normal work week is thirty-one and a quarter hours (31 1/4), and the normal daily schedule is from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the same one-hour period allowed for lunch.
    2. The normal work week for most staff is from Monday to Friday, but regular work schedules for individuals in some work units may involve regular weekend or evening work.
  6.  
    1. For staff of Protection Services and the Housekeeping Division of the Physical Resources Service, who are paid hourly, the average annual normal work week is forty (40) hours. The work schedules include normal workdays of eight hours divided into day, evening and night shifts, and are established by the administration of the service in question. For mail clerks, the average annual normal work week is thirty-six and a quarter hours (36 1/4).
    2. The work schedules described may be changed occasionally, with the agreement of the staff member concerned, to meet the needs of the campus or those of specific employee groups. In such instances, it is important to comply with the total annual number of hours of work scheduled for the position.
  7. The number of work hours must in all instances comply with current statutes, and in particular with the Ontario Employment Standards Act.
  8.  
    1. According to the Employment Standards Act, no employer may ask an employee to work more than eight hours a day or forty-eight hours a week without the employee’s agreement; in any case, the employee must not work more than 60 hours a week. The employee and employer may cancel this agreement.
    2. If the employee wishes to cancel an agreement to work more than eight hours a day, he or she must give two weeks’ notice. The agreement cannot be cancelled if the employment contract specifies that the regular work day is more than eight hours.
    3. The employer must give reasonable notice when wishing to cancel an agreement concerning hours that differ from those stipulated in the Employment Standards Act. The notice period must be determined in consultation with the Employee Relations Section of the Human Resources Service.

  9. Employees cannot be required to work more than the number of hours specified in paragraph 8.1 without their consent, except during an emergency, as defined in the Employment Standards Act.

    FLEX HOURS

  10. Given the different needs on campus, the University has a policy that allows flex hours. Responsibility for establishing these flex hours lies with deans and service directors, who must ensure that a sufficient number of employees remain on duty to maintain essential services during working hours. Managers must remember that requests for flex hours are not to be unreasonably refused.
  11. Flexible schedules must abide by these rules:
    1. at least thirty minutes must be granted for lunch;
    2. the two daily 15-minute breaks cannot be used to reduce the length of the normal University workday; and
    3. the work schedule requires the dean’s or director’s approval.
  12. Flexible schedules cannot allow for the workday to begin before 7:30 a.m. or to end before 3:30 p.m., except during summer hours, when the daily schedule must not end before 3 p.m.

  13. Flexible schedules do not apply to staff whose regular work schedule differs from the one in article 5.1.

    BREAKS

  14. All support staff employees are entitled to two 15-minute breaks every day, one in each half of the workday, at a time established by the unit managers. The University’s goal in allowing this rest period is to reduce fatigue and stress and to boost morale and performance. However, telephone and reception services must be maintained during breaks.

    OVERTIME TERMS AND CONDITIONS

  15. Only overtime hours explicitly and directly scheduled and approved by the immediate supervisor are considered legitimate overtime hours and can be paid under the terms and conditions in this policy. Employees who work overtime to contend with an emergency that affects the University’s operation must notify their immediate supervisor accordingly without delay. Unscheduled and unauthorized hours of work by staff at their own discretion or for personal reasons are not recognized and not paid as overtime under this policy.
  16. All support staff members in regular grade-9 or lower positions, no matter what their employment category, are entitled to overtime pay in accordance with this policy.
  17.  Staff members in regular grade-10 positions who are not managers (that is, employes who have no managerial or supervisory responsibility and whose position is identified as such in the Human Resources Service database), no matter what the employment category, are eligible for overtime pay, in accordance with this policy. Employees to whom this article applies and who were hired after May 1, 2002 are not eligible for a fourth week of annual leave after three years of continuous service (see policy 9a).
  18. Staff members in regular grade-10 positions who are managers, no matter what their employment category, are not eligible for overtime pay, but are eligible for a fourth week of annual leave after three years of continuous service.

  19.      

    1. Notwithstanding the provisions of article 18, and subject to the limits established in article 8.1, and up to the maximum number of hours permitted under the Employment Standards Act, grade-10 or higher personnel assigned to a special project involving a considerable amount of extra work but not being followed by a foreseeable workload reduction over time may by exception be compensated for the additional work.

      Generally, overtime for grades 10 (managers) to 13 is managed as follows:

      Employees in these salary classes can be called on occasionally to work some overtime without special pay or compensation.

      However, for repetitive peak periods or for special projects and special circumstances (like in the preceding paragraph) that require a substantial amount of overtime, members and their dean or director must agree on reasonable compensation, in the form of time off or extra pay.

      These agreements must be first approved by the Human Resources Service, to safeguard internal equity.

    2. The dean or service director and the Human Resources Service Director must approve the overtime at issue in the previous article. Payment of overtime is subject to the availability of funds.

    REMUNERATION

  20. The type of remuneration must be determined with faculty or service management before overtime can be authorized.
  21. Each hour of overtime work, including any performed on Sunday, is paid at the rate of time and one-half the regular hourly rate, either in money or in equivalent time off, according to the terms and conditions specified below and to the provisions of article 15. In the calculation of overtime, leaves of all kinds are excluded.
  22. Each unscheduled hour worked by a member of the Protection Services is considered as overtime and is paid at twice the regular hourly rate.
  23. The calculation of overtime excludes weekend and evening premiums.
  24. A maximum of fifty hours of overtime, including the time-and-a-half calculation, can be banked during each calendar year (January to December) and may be taken as time off, at the employee’s discretion, except for positions that include time remittance and for which there is a flexible schedule. All overtime beyond these 50 hours must be paid.
  25. When overtime is worked for emergencies, as defined in the Employment Standards Act, it may be added to the number of hours banked.
  26. All banked overtime not used up by 31 December of each year is to be paid according to the number of hours logged in the databases. Furthermore, the December 31 date is deferred until March 31 for overtime accumulated between October 1 and December 31, although this remains subject to the 50-hour maximum.
  27. Staff members with banked overtime who are transferred must be reimbursed in cash when they leave the faculty, department or service where the overtime was worked.

  28. Staff having worked overtime and wishing to be paid for the hours in question must be paid no later than the month after the overtime was worked.

    RECALL TO WORK AND ON-CALL PAY

  29. All staff members whose job makes on-call status essential, and who have been asked to be on call, whether by means of a pager or a cell phone, and who therefore must be reachable and available at all times for a designated period are to be paid at the rate of 30 minutes for every four-hour on-call period. “On call” is defined as any period outside of normal working hours during which the person is available to answer emergency calls for his or her area and who can come to work quickly if required. On-call time cannot be accumulated when the service’s operations are closed. Between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., only staff members who provide essential services may be remunerated when necessary. Determining what constitutes essential services is the responsibility of faculty and service managers.

  30. Staff members recalled to work 15 minutes or more following the end of the normal workday receive a minimum of either four hours’ straight time or time-and-a-half for the hours worked, whichever is highest. When an employee is paid under this article, any accumulation of on-call time ceases for the period in question.

    MEAL ALLOWANCE

  31. Employees must have at least one half-hour to eat after five consecutive hours of work.
  32. An employee who is required to work beyond his or her regular scheduled workday is entitled to a meal allowance of nine dollars ($9) after working two consecutive hours of overtime, and after each four consecutive hours of overtime afterward. When overtime hours worked on a day are not on the normal schedule, a meal allowance is payable after each four-hour period.

  33. Such allowance must be paid from petty cash.

    WEEKEND AND EVENING PREMIUMS

  34. Staff whose work schedule requires working evenings or weekends are paid premiums. These are $0.40 an hour for evening work (between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.) and $0.54 an hour for weekend work. The annual base pay for staff with regular evening or weekend schedules is adjusted proportionately to take into account the hours worked during these periods. When these periods are worked sporadically, the rates specified here are used to calculate the pay owed.

  35. For Protection Services staff who work schedules spanning both a 24-hour-a-day period and a seven-day-a-week period, premiums are as follows:

    From Monday to Saturday, from 4 p.m. to midnight: $0.40, from one minute after midnight to 8 a.m.: $0.49.

    Saturday: from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.: $0.40.

    Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.: $0.54; from 4 p.m. to midnight: $0.86, from one minute after midnight to 8 a.m.: $0.97.

    These rates apply to regular and term employees, except for parking-lot attendants.

    HOLIDAYS

  36. Information on eligibility and type of pay for employees working overtime on holidays is in Policy 9a.

    OTHER POLICIES

  37. Policy 87 on the temporary interruption of University activities or the activities of a faculty, school or a service is to be consulted as a related policy.

    INTERPRETATION

  38. The Director of Human Resources Service is responsible for the interpretation of this policy. The application of this policy is the joint responsibility of the faculty or service management and the Director of Human Resources Service.

    SCOPE OF APPLICATION

  39. This policy applies to regular employees and to situations not covered by a collective agreement. Conditions for term employees are set out in Policy 47.

    EXCEPTION

  40. No exception may be made to this policy without the written consent of the Vice-Rector, Resources.

    Revised November 24, 2004

    (Human Resources)