The following definitions are derived from 5 CFR 610.102 and 5 CFR 340, subparts B and D.

The days and hours within an employee's regularly scheduled workweek, during which the employee is required to be on duty, may also be referred to as the "basic work requirement." Employees are expected to fulfill their basic work requirement (each hour, day, workweek, or pay period) through the completion of assigned work and/or approved leave status.

In accordance with Delegation Order 39, Tours of Duty, http://www.irs.gov/irm/part1/ch02s24.html#d0e51546, the authority to establish a workweek or work schedule (including a flexible and compressed work schedule) under 5 CFR 610.111 and 610.121; prescribe the official hours of duty; when necessary, establish an administrative workweek of five eight-hour days other than Monday through Friday for an individual or group of employees, and prescribe flexible tours of duty for criminal investigators (as appropriate); is delegated to Assistant Deputy Commissioners, Division Commissioners, Deputy Division Commissioners, and equivalents. This authority may not be delegated to officials lower than first-level managers.

In accordance with Delegation Order 184, Certification of Time and Attendance, http://www.irs.gov/irm/part1/ch02s24.html#d0e52233 the authority to certify and approve Time and Attendance (T/A) Records, or T/A Rosters containing their own T/A data, and designate in writing other employees who may certify and approve T/A Records is delegated to:

An employee's tour of duty must be documented, identifying the calendar days and hours of the day, and made a matter of record. The tour of duty must be documented on the official Single Entry Time Reporting (SETR) time and attendance (T/A) record. If the tour of duty establishes entitlement to night differential and/or Sunday premium pay, the SETR T/A record must be notated accordingly. (5 CFR 610.121)

Regular Overtime - If applicable, the tour of duty shall specify, by calendar day and number of hours each day, overtime that is a part of an employee’s regularly scheduled administrative workweek. Regularly scheduled overtime is planned and recorded in increments of 15 minutes. Compensation for regular overtime is referenced in IRM 6.500. 1.11 and IRM 6.500.1.12

Irregular or Occasional Overtime - At various times, a manager may identify the need to perform overtime work in advance of any given administrative workweek. This is defined as irregular or occasional overtime work and is not reflected in the employee’s established tour of duty. Compensation for irregular or occasional overtime is referenced in IRM 6.500. 1.11 and IRM 6.500.1.12.

Part-time Employees - The tour of duty must be annotated on the SF 50, Notification of Personnel Action of a part time employee (e.g., "Tour of duty 8:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., Monday through Friday.")

Changes in work schedules, e.g., from part-time to full-time; full-time to part-time; seasonal to full-time, are based on management consideration of such factors as the type of work performed, the number of employees necessary to have on duty, when work assignments will occur, as well as budgetary and ceiling requirements.

All changes in work schedules and tours of duty, whether permanent or temporary, must be documented and made a matter of record. Notices of changes in tours of duty, including any resulting changes in premium pay, will be provided in writing to employees at least one pay period in advance of the first pay period of the tour. In the event that unusual circumstances render such early notification impracticable, employees must be informed far enough in advance so that they will have time to report to work at the start of their new tour. For bargaining unit employees, the negotiated agreement should be consulted regarding work schedule and tour of duty changes.

Adverse action or reduction in force procedures may apply to changes involving a decrease in hours worked.

For part-time employees, increases or decreases in tour of duty hours are to be appropriately documented on a Standard Form 50 unless the tour of duty change in hours will be effective for two pay periods or less. (See IRM 6.300.1.19,Establishing and Changing Part-time Tours of Duty.)

Tours necessitated by operating conditions - Tours of duty may vary to include Saturday and Sunday or other changes to the standard work week to fulfill the mission of the organization or increase cost efficiency. If feasible, such tours should provide for the same hours of work for each day, and for two consecutive days off in each administrative workweek.

Religious conviction - Employees may request a variance to their tour of duty due to religious observance or requirements (e.g., employees may have a religious requirement that prohibits work on Saturday or Sunday). This deviation is based upon an ongoing requirement and not a specific religious observance. For information regarding compensatory time for religious observances, see IRM 6.500.1.11.14.1 , Compensatory Time Off for Religious Observances.

A special tour of duty may be approved to allow employees to take one or more courses at a college, university, or other educational institution (in accordance with 5 CFR 610.122), only if:

The employee may not receive any premium pay as a result of the special tour of duty which causes the employee to work on a day or at a time for which premium pay would be payable. This includes overtime, night differential, and/or Sunday pay.

The authority to approve special tours for educational purposes is delegated to officials no lower than second-level managers, in accordance with Delegation Order 39, Tours of Duty, http://www.irs.gov/irm/part1/ch02s24.html#d0e51546.

As provided by 5 CFR 610.123, to the extent practicable, an employee will not be required to travel during non-duty hours. However, when such travel is essential and the employee may not be paid overtime under 5 CFR 550.112(e), the official ordering the travel shall record the reasons for ordering the travel during non-duty hours and shall, when requested, provide a copy of the statement to the employee concerned.

See IRM 6.500.1.11.2.1 and IRM 6.500.1.12.2 , for additional information concerning travel as hours of work.

Employees may be granted compensatory time off for travel as directed by their manager. For information regarding the requirements and procedures, see Compensatory Time Off for Travel, http://hco.web.irs.gov/compbenefits/leave/hourswork/comptimetrav/hco-policy87.html.

A lunch or other meal period is an approved period of time, from 30 minutes not to exceed one hour, in a nonpay and nonwork status that interrupts a basic workday or a period of overtime work for the purpose of permitting employees to eat or engage in permitted personal activities. Lunch or meal period schedules may vary by office based upon work requirements and availability and convenience of eating establishments. A lunch or meal period is typically scheduled approximately midway through an employee’s work day

Employees whose daily tour of duty is for six hours or more are required to have a lunch or meal period included in their daily tour of duty.

Employees may not work through their lunch period and leave work early as lunch periods are not considered hours of work

A break is a short rest period (not to exceed 15 minutes) with pay in the basic workday during which employees are permitted to interrupt work for the relief of fatigue. For bargaining unit employees, breaks are subject to provisions stated in the negotiated agreement.

Break times may not be aggregated or used to shorten or otherwise change an employee’s tour of duty. As such, a lunch or break may not be authorized at the end of the employee’s tour of duty.

Employees may not take more than two 15 minute breaks in any eight hour workday.

Combining a lunch or meal period with authorized paid breaks or rest periods is prohibited. Employees may not extend a lunch period by taking a break prior to or immediately following lunch, since the break is considered part of the employee’s compensable workday.

The President and Congress are the sole authorities able to grant a Federal holiday or to grant time off that has the effect of a holiday

For employees of the IRS, holidays will be identified and determined as provided by 5 U.S.C. 6103 and 6104, Executive Order 11582, and 5 CFR Part 610 subpart B. The following link provides a listing by year of Federal holidays: http://www.opm.gov/fedhol/index.asp.

Full-time employees who are not required to work on a holiday receive their rate of basic pay for the applicable number of holiday hours. On a holiday, employees on 40 hour/5-day week (standard tour of duty) and flexible work schedules, are paid for eight hours, which are considered part of the 40-hour basic workweek.

Employees under a compressed work schedule are excused from all of the nonovertime holiday hours they would otherwise work on that day and which apply to their "basic work requirement." For example, if a holiday falls on a 9- or 10-hour basic workday, the employee’s holiday is 9 or 10 hours respectively.

Part-time employees are entitled to a holiday when the holiday falls on a day when otherwise they would be required to work. Part-time employees who are excused from work on a holiday receive their rate of basic pay for the hours they are regularly scheduled to work on that day. For example, a part-time employee who is regularly scheduled to work from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Mondays, will receive four hours of basic pay if Monday is a Federal holiday.

Intermittent employees do not have a regularly scheduled tour of duty and they are not entitled to pay for the holiday.

Holidays do not affect setting of the basic workweek. In other words, managers must not reschedule an employee either to deny or confer holiday benefits or to shift work from a holiday to a day outside the basic workweek (one of the employee’s usual days off).

5 U.S.C. 6103 and Executive Order 11582, authorizes "in lieu of" holidays (ILOH) for full-time employees when a holiday falls on a nonworkday. For additional information regarding "in lieu of" holidays, see http://www.opm.gov/oca/worksch/html/holiday.asp#InLieuofHolidays.

When the holiday is observed at the beginning of a workday which encompasses two calendar days, the holiday is observed for the entire tour (e.g., for a nightshift that begins at 8:00 p.m. and ends at 4:30 a.m. the following day, the entire shift is considered the holiday).

For guidance regarding pay for work performed on a holiday, see IRM 6.500.1.11.4, Pay for Holiday Work.

Delegation Order 6-7, Temporary Office Closures Due to Inclement Weather, Imminent Health and Safety Issues, or Other Emergency Situations, http://www.irs.gov/pub/foia/ig/spder/do-6-7.pdf provides the authority to close offices and dismiss employees for short periods due to inclement weather or other emergency conditions.

Delegation Order 104, Absences and Charges to Leave, http://www.irs.gov/irm/part1/ch02s24.html#d0e51987, provides the authority to authorize brief absences from duty without loss of pay or charge to leave.

Due to emergency conditions such as inclement weather, power outages, or other health and safety issues, offices may open late, be closed for an entire day or be dismissed early. Guidance on excused absence for building closure may be referenced at the following link: http://erc.web.irs.gov/docs/2002/awss/ps/timekeeping/DecisionLogic-AdminLeaveDueToOfficeClosure.

When the office is not closed, an employee who has made reasonable efforts to report to work but is unable to report due to emergency conditions may be eligible for a limited amount of excused absence for part or all of the employee’s workday. An acceptable explanation and/or documentation must be submitted that addresses efforts the employee made to reach work; alternate modes of transportation; highway conditions; commuting distance; and any other evidence that substantiates the inability to report for work. Factors which will be considered upon reviewing the request are availability of telework, whether or not the employee’s residence is outside the normal commuting area, mode of transportation typically used by the employee, efforts by the employee to report to work, the success of other employees similarly situated, physical disability of the employee, and local travel restrictions.

If the President, the Office of Personnel Management, or other appropriate authority declares a natural disaster area, employees who are faced with a personal emergency caused by that natural disaster may be eligible for a reasonable amount (typically not exceeding three consecutive workdays) of excused absence, based on the facts and circumstances of the personal emergency. Such requests will be reviewed on a case by case basis and approved through the management chain by the business unit executive, in consultation and coordination as appropriate, with the Senior Commissioner’s Representative (SCR). An employee requesting such excused absence will be requested to provide an explanation and/or documentation in support of the claim. Factors which shall be considered are the nature of the personal emergency, efforts by the employee to come to work, local travel restrictions, other employees in similar situations, and the availability of other options such as an interim telework agreement or reporting to another POD on a temporary basis

Additional emergency guidance for managers and employees will be extended through Service communication channels from the Office of the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner or IRS Human Capital Officer for incidents that impact significant portions of the Service and over extensive periods of time (e.g., hurricanes, pandemic influenza).

During severe weather or other emergency situations various Federal, State or other officials with jurisdiction (e.g., local government not the Red Cross) may request that IRS employees assist in emergency law enforcement, relief, or clean-up efforts. In such situations, employees may be approved by the business unit executive, a limited amount of excused absence to participate in a civilian capacity during official duty hours.

Managers may grant employees limited excused absence only if needed, to vote in Federal, State, county, or municipal elections or in referendums on a civic matter in their community provided that such time off does not seriously interfere with workload accomplishment. Polling places throughout the United States are usually open for extended periods of time, and excused absence should rarely be needed. Requests for excused absence for voting purposes must be submitted in advance to the immediate manager. Managers may request that employees identify their tour of duty, the time the polls open and close, and why excused absence is needed in order to be able to vote.

For employees who vote in jurisdictions which require registration in person, time off to register may be granted on substantially the same basis as for voting, however no excused absence shall be granted if registration can be accomplished on a nonwork day and the place of registration is within a reasonable one day round trip travel distance of the employee's residence.

Employees who volunteer to donate blood and/or make aphaeresis (platelet) donations without compensation to the American Red Cross or to other blood banks, or respond to calls for blood donations are entitled to up to four hours of excused absence for recuperative purposes.

According to the Red Cross, whole blood may be donated once every 56 days. Since aphaeresis donations may be given more frequently, granting excused time for such donations is discretionary, subject to workload considerations.

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 6327 employees are entitled to excused absence for bone marrow or organ donation.

The maximum authorized excused absence includes the time required for travel, testing to determine if the employee is a compatible donor, plus the time required to undergo the bone marrow donation or transplant procedure and recuperate.

Medical documentation must be submitted in advance of the bone marrow or organ donation and support the request for excused absence. This documentation will be an official statement from a medical facility or physician and will indicate the period of absence required for the compatibility test, donation or transplant procedure, and recuperation.

Employees in a work status will be excused without charge to leave or loss of pay, when they are required to take a test, assessment, interview, or any other evaluative process as a result of applying under an internal or external IRS vacancy announcement. Scheduling of the time must be approved by the manager and subject to workload considerations. Excused absence includes travel time.

Part-time employees not scheduled to work at the time of the examination and seasonal employees in nonwork status are not authorized excused absence. Intermittent employees, as they do not have a regularly scheduled tour of duty, are ineligible for such excused time.

Employees who are applying for a position outside of the IRS are not entitled to excused absence. However, upon request, employees may be granted annual leave or LWOP.

Employees required by the Service to undergo a medical examination or testing remain in duty status during the time needed for these purposes. Employees in nonwork status will not be placed in work status for the purpose of such medical examination or testing.

Employees will be granted excused absence to attend a tax audit that:

Employees will also be granted excused absence to discuss an employee’s personal tax affairs with a member of TIGTA or other authorized management official.

Under certain conditions, excused absence may be authorized to attend meetings and conferences. Guidance may be found at the following link: http://hco.web.irs.gov/devtrain/training/servlearn/trainconf.html.

Employees who are authorized moving expenses and at management discretion, are excused from duty for the purpose of completing certain relocation transactions. Excused absence may only be approved if the cost of relocation (travel and transportation of household goods) is paid by the IRS. Guidelines for excused absence for relocation purposes are as follows:

Employees may be permitted up to eight hours of excused absence per calendar year to volunteer their time to legitimate public service organizations. Such excused absence is approved under very limited circumstances and in accordance with the following:

Requests for excused absence for volunteer activities are approved by the second level approval authority or higher, as determined by each Business unit.

Employees may elect Continuation of Pay (COP) in lieu of annual or sick leave for absences up to 45 days for a job-related traumatic injury. Detailed information regarding COP may be found at the following links:

In accordance with Executive Order 13223, employees who return from active military service in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) are entitled to five days of excused absence each time they return from active military duty. In order to receive the five days of excused absence, employees must spend at least 42 consecutive days on active duty in support of the GWOT. A returning employee is entitled to this excused absence only once during a 12-month period, with a new 12-month period beginning after the first use of the excused absence. Detailed information regarding the requirements and procedures may be found at OPM, Questions and Answers on Excused Absence for Employees Returning from Active Duty in the Global War on Terrorism, http://www.opm.gov/oca/compmemo/2008/2008-21-QA.asp.

There are other situations where IRS authorizes limited amounts of excused absence. This includes:

The following guidance applies to all IRS employees who have been approved to work under a flexible or compressed work schedule that has been established under 5 U.S.C. chapter 61, subchapter II and, for bargaining unit employees, as negotiated in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 6130.

The terms defined at 5 U.S.C. 6121 apply with regard to flexible and compressed work schedules

There are two categories of AWS: Flexible Work Schedules (FWS) and Compressed Work Schedules (CWS). Within FWS and CWS, there are various schedules available. The only allowable FWS within IRS is Flexitour with Credit Hours. The allowable CWS within IRS are 5/4-9 and 4/10.

Under the Flexitour with Credit Hours work schedule, the employee works an established eight hour daily tour of duty for five days each week of the pay period with the employee selecting starting and ending times within the flexible hours. Once selected, the hours are fixed until an opportunity is provided to select different starting and stopping times. However, employees may earn and use credit hours. Credit hours are any hours that are voluntarily worked (with managerial approval) in excess of an employee’s basic work requirement (eight hours per day, 40 hours per week, and 80 hours per pay period for a full-time employee). Credit hours earned can be subsequently used at the election of the employee and with managerial approval to vary the length of a work day or work week.

CWS are fixed work schedules that enable employees to complete their basic biweekly work requirement in less than 10 workdays.

Credit hours will be administered as provided by 5 U.S.C. 6122.

Only employees covered by flexible work schedules may earn credit hours. Employees covered by CWS may not earn credit hours.

The employee must elect to work credit hours voluntarily.

All credit hours worked and used must be approved in advance by management.

Employees may earn a maximum of three credit hours on each regularly scheduled workday and up to 10 credit hours on a nonwork day (excluding holidays).

The hours during which an employee elects to work and earn credit hours must be outside of his or her basic workweek. Credit hours may only be earned within the timebands established for that business unit, branch or group (e.g., if a credit hour timeband is stated as 6:00 am. to 8:00 p.m., credit hours may only be worked and earned within that period. An employee could not work a credit hour beyond 8:00 p.m. as it is outside the prescribed timeframe).

Time cannot be charged against credit hours until credit hours have been earned. There is no authority in law or regulation to advance credit hours.

Credit hours may be earned and used in 15 minute increments.

From pay period to pay period, full-time employees may carry forward a maximum of 24 credit hours. Part-time employees may carry forward a maximum of 25% of the hours in their biweekly work requirement. For example, a part-time employee who is regularly scheduled to work 40 hours per pay period may carry forward a maximum of 10 credit hours from pay period to pay period.

An employee may not elect to work and earn credit hours during his/her regularly scheduled duty hours on a holiday as the employee is already being compensated for that time.

An employee may not earn credit hours during the hours of his/her regularly scheduled duty hours while on excused absence, such as hours excused from work because of a weather emergency. If an office closure does not impact an employee’s telework site or alternate post of duty, the employee is required to work and regular work hours are posted.

Credit hours may not be earned solely for the purpose of traveling. However, employees who elect to perform essential work outside of the basic workweek while in travel status, may earn credit hours with prior managerial approval.

Night pay may not be paid when credit hours are earned or used at night. When employees earn or use credit hours, they are not performing regularly scheduled work. Night pay is only authorized for work performed at night during an employee’s regularly scheduled tour of duty.

Sunday premium pay may not be paid when employees earn or use credit hours on a Sunday.

To participate in AWS, an employee must have at least a fully successful performance evaluation. Employees without a rating of record will be presumed to be rated as "Fully Successful" in order to be eligible for AWS. If an employee is rated less than "Fully Successful," his or her manager may move the employee off their current AWS work schedule.

Employees selected for work assignments outside of their office (to include training, details, promotions/temporary promotions) may be required to discontinue their AWS (either temporarily or permanently, as appropriate) in order to comply with established work schedules of the assignment or work group. For example, if an employee on a 4/10 compressed work schedule is assigned to a three day training class with an 8:00 to 4:30 schedule, the employee must convert to a standard 40 hour/5 day week work schedule for the entire pay period.

If an employee is no longer subject to a flexible work schedule (federal employment ends, transfers to another agency, converts to a compressed work schedule, etc.), the employee is entitled to payment up to a maximum of 24 unused earned credit hours for full-time employees (or up to a part-time employee’s maximum based upon tour of duty).

Additional Guidance on Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules (Alternative Work Schedules) can be found in the following references: