§18B-7-11 Compensatory time off in lieu of overtime; written agreement; other conditions. - West Virginia Statutes

§18B-7-11. Compensatory time off in lieu of overtime; written

agreement; other conditions.

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, employees of the governing boards may receive in lieu of overtime compensation, compensatory time off at a rate not less than one and one-half hours for each hour of employment. Said employees may receive compensatory time only pursuant to written agreements arrived at between the employer and the employee before the performance of the work, and recorded in the employer's record of hours worked, and if the employee has not accrued compensatory time in excess of the limits prescribed herein. Any written agreement may be modified at the request of either the employer or employee, but under no circumstances shall changes in the agreement deny an employee compensatory time heretofore acquired.

(b) An employee may accrue up to four hundred eighty hours of compensatory time if the employee's work is a public safety activity, an emergency response activity or a seasonal activity. An employee engaged in other work for the governing board may accrue up to two hundred forty hours of compensatory time. Any such employee who has accrued four hundred eighty or two hundred forty hours of compensatory time, as the case may be, shall, for additional overtime hours of work, be paid overtime compensation. If compensation is paid to an employee for accrued compensatory time off, such compensation shall be paid at the regular rate earned by the employee at the time the employee received such payment.

(c) An employee who has accrued compensatory time off pursuant to this section, shall, upon termination of employment, be paid for the unused compensatory time at a rate of compensation not less than:

(1) The average regular rate received by such employee during the first three years of the employee's employment; or

(2) The final regular rate received by such employee, whichever is higher.

(d) An employee of the governing boards who has accrued compensatory time off authorized to be provided under this section, and who has requested the use of compensatory time, shall be permitted by the employee's employer to use such time within a reasonable time after making the request if the use of the compensatory time does not unduly disrupt the operation of the employing agency. Compensatory time must be used within one year from the time it is accrued.

(e) For purposes of this section, the terms "compensatory time" and "compensatory time off" mean hours during which the employee is not working, which are not counted as hours worked toward during the applicable work week or other work period for purposes of overtime compensation, and for which the employee is compensated at the employee's regular rate.