TA 19-02, Changes to Religious Compensatory Time
Published: November 8, 2019
Effective: Pay Period 22, 2019
Summary
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has updated the regulations for earning and repaying religious compensatory time. Employees will now be able to earn religious compensatory time up to 13 pay periods before and up to 13 pay periods after the time off is used. Transaction Code (TC) 32, Prefix 77, Compensatory Time Worked-Religious, is used to record religious compensatory time.
Implementation
Religious compensatory time permits an employee to rearrange work hours when the employee’s personal religious beliefs require an absence from work to meet personal religious requirements. This time must either be earned before the time is taken or repaid after the time is taken per OPM regulations. The overtime worked to repay the religious compensatory time does not generate entitlement to premium pay or other pay.
To Earn Religious Compensatory Time:
- The employee performs overtime work to earn religious compensatory time off. This time may be applied to cover a past absence due to a religious observance or may be earned for a future request for religious compensatory time.
- The employee accumulates only the amount of religious compensatory time off needed to cover an approved absence for a religious observance.
- The earned religious compensatory time that has not been used may be applied toward a future religious observance.
To Request Religious Compensatory Time:
The employee submits a leave request that includes the following:
- name and/or description of the religious observance
- dates and times of the absence
- dates and times the employee plans to repay the religious compensatory time
To Process Religious Compensatory Time:
Religious compensatory time will continue to be processed in the Agency's time and attendance (T&A) application the same way as it is currently processed. Timekeepers should continue to monitor religious compensatory time as they are currently.
To Record Religious Compensatory Time for a Separating Employee:
- The losing Agency pays the employee at the hourly rate of basic pay in effect when the religious compensatory time was earned (not the overtime rate) for employees separating from Federal service or transferring to another Federal Agency with unused religious compensatory time.
- A debt is incurred by employees with a negative balance of religious compensatory time separating from Federal service or transferring to another Federal Agency. Repayment of the debt for unearned but used religious compensatory time may be repaid by making a corresponding reduction in the employee’s balance of annual leave, credit hours, compensatory time, travel compensatory time, or time-off awards. If there is a remaining negative balance, this must be resolved by charging the employee leave without pay, which will result in a debt.
Resources
The procedure manual for this application, which is available online at the National Finance Center (NFC) Web site, is being updated to include the information in this bulletin. To view and/or print this procedure, select
from the drop-down menu on the NFC Home page. At the page, select the tab and select the applicable category to access the procedure manual within the category.Inquiries
For questions about NFC processing, authorized Servicing Personnel Office representatives should contact the NFC Contact Center at
or via the customer service portal.