SECTION: HUMAN RESOURCES INDEX: C-4

POLICY

The University of Houston-Victoria (UHV) will remain open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with adequate coverage to handle the workload at all times.  Some areas, because of the nature of the services rendered, may need to open and close either earlier or later.

PROCEDURE

Employees will be advised at the time of employment of work schedules.  Department heads have the prerogative and responsibility to prescribe rules and limitations dictated by service or organization needs.

All full-time employees will normally work eight hours per working day for a forty hour workweek.  Hourly employees are required to adhere to the schedule set by their supervisors and are not permitted to sign out or continue work after completing their scheduled time without the prior approval of their supervisor.

The State Appropriations Act requires that state agencies remain open during the noon hour with at least one person on duty to accept calls, receive visitors, or transact business. 

Each employee is provided a meal break near the middle of the workday. The meal period is normally scheduled for one hour.  An employee will not be paid for meal breaks.

Supervisors may alter or amend meal schedules as necessary to ensure efficient operations.

The State Appropriations Act supports the employer’s attempt to accommodate an employee’s request for a “flex-time” work schedule.  Approval from the supervisor and the appropriate cabinet level administrator must be obtained in advance for any deviation from the regular hours of work.  Additionally, the supervisor must notify the Director of Human Resources/Affirmative Action via the Alternative Work Schedule Request form. See UHV Policy C-24, Alternative Work Schedule, for additional information.

Overtime for hourly employees may be scheduled when requested by the supervisor and must be approved by the supervisor prior to the work being performed.  Hours worked in excess of forty hours during the workweek by an hourly employee shall be considered overtime.  Supervisors should manage the workload so that overtime is minimized.  See UHV Policy C-25, Overtime/Compensatory Time, for additional information.

Some staff positions require more actual working hours than others and the acceptance of such a requirement is condition of employment for individuals employed in those positions.  Employees are entitled to reasonable notice when departments make significant changes to work schedules.

Some staff positions require that the employee be available for service during emergencies.  An employee who has been informed that his/her position is subject to emergency duty and subsequently fails to report when called for such duty may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination, unless the employee provides an acceptable reason for failure to report for duty.

All employees are required to call their supervisors within the hour of the time they were scheduled to report to work if they will be absent or tardy.  If the employee is unable to reach the supervisor directly, the employee is required to make personal contact with the supervisor as soon as reasonably possible.

Each non-exempt, hourly employee is required to fill out a time sheet showing the number of hours worked during the preceding two week period.  Salaried employees are required to fill out monthly time sheets to record absences for leave taken.  Signing another employee’s time sheet or falsifying one’s own time sheet violates state law, is strictly prohibited, and will result in discipline, up to and including termination.  It is, however, permissible for a supervisor to indicate “Employee not available for signature” on the timesheet when the timesheet needs to be processed and the employee is not available to sign.

The work schedule of an employee who is a member of the National Guard or any reserve component of the Armed Forces must be adjusted so that two of the employee's regular non-work days per month coincide with the two days of military duty to be performed by the employees.  An employee may not be required to use vacation or any other compensated leave for this military duty.

Tardiness is defined as being late to work, late returning from a lunch break, or late returning from any other absence from work.  The supervisor should handle habitual tardiness of employees.

Approved:

Signature obtained                 10/13/03
Karen S. Haynes, Ph.D.         Date

Origination:  Human Resources
Next Review Date:    October 2005