THEATJTORNEY GENERAI. OF T-EAUSVI-IN I~TEXAR
BVILY. WILSON A~TOHNRY DSNKHAL June 15, 1959

Honorable J. E. Peavy, M.D. Commissionerof Health Departmentof Health Austin, Texas Opinion No. ~~-644
Re: Under the Meat Ins ection Law, Article fl 476-X Vernon's Civil Statutes, and the General Approprlation Act, may the Department of Health grant compensatory time to inspecDear Dr. Peavy: tion employees?

You have requested our opinion on whether, under the Meat InspectionLaw, Article 4476-3,Vernon's' Civil Statutes, and the General Appropriation Act, the Departmentof Health may grant compensatory time to inspectionemployees for work %n,'excess

of eight hours per day norforty hours per week, as well as for work on officialholidays.

Section 14a oft

Article 4476-3,Vernon's Civil Statute~s, reads as follows:

'Sec. 14a. Any person, flrm,~assoclatlon, or corporationdesiring to use~the 'Texas State Appro.ved'

meat label in representing, publishing, or advertisingany meat or meat food products offered for sale or to be sold in this State for human consumptionshall pay for the necessary inspection service,and the State Board of Health shall adopt rules and regulationsrelating to such inspectionchargeswhich will,. in effect, provide that the fees charged shall be fixed as nearly as possiblewith reference to the cost of maintaining the Inspectionservice by the State Health Department which is necessary to permit the use ~ofthe 'TexasState Approved Meat for Human Food' label. Any such moneys charged and collected for such Inspectionservice shall be payable to the State Health Departmentand shall be deposited In the State Treasury in a specialaccount to the credit of the State Health Departmentand used for the purpose of carrying out the program of inspection

which is necessarybefore theHonorableJ. E. Peavy, M.D. page 2. (~~-644)

issuing of permits for the use of the 'Texas State Approved Meat for Human Food' label."
Your request indicatesthat, because of the irregular hours required by packing plant operations,the inspectors are often required to work more than forty hours per week, and in some instancesas much as fifty to sixty hours per week. It is our understandingthat the meat inspectors are salariedannual employees,paid In twelve equal monthly Installments.,

Section 26 of ArticleVI of House Bill 133, Acts 55th 870 ( legislature,

Regular Session, 1957, chapter 385, page :the current General Appropriation Bill), provides the employmentpolicies for State employees,relating to hours of work. Subsection (a) of Section 26, provides in part as follows:

“a
. Office hours of State agencieswill be from g:OO a. m. to 5~00 p..m., Monday through Friday of each week except holidays authorized In this Act. The responsibleexecutivehead will arrange for the State headquarters of each, agency to be open on each Saturday from 8:OO a.m. to 12:00 noon with an administrative assistant on duty in order to carry out, any business of the a ency. work & Regular employeesof the State shall 0 hours a week exceptingofficialholidays. It is furtherprovided that exceptionsto the minimum length of work week may be made by the operatinghead of a state agency for house parents and other employeeswhose duties require them to reside in a State hospital or Institution;for guards, firemen,and other employeeswhose services are required for longer periods in the public Interest;and pursuant to Article II of this Act."
In ouropinion, the Legislature has authorized the various departmentsto prescribe the hours to be worked by regular State employees consistent with the nature of the duties to be performed,es 8eciallywhen these duties will not fall Into the regular ~00 a.m. to 5~00 p.m. work day, or the forty hour week. In view of the nature of the duties to be performed by the Inspectorsin question,you are advised that you are authorizedto establishthe hours such employeeswill work, and the hours they may be let off, so long as such employeesmeet the minimum requirementthatHonorable J. E. Peavy, M.D. page 3. (~~-644)

regular State employeeswork at least or in excess of an average of forty hours per week.

Your question is answered in the affirmative, so long as the work hours of the employees in question conform to the minimum requirementof the General Appropriation Bill.
SUMMARY

Under Article 4476-3, Vernon's Civil Statutes,and the GeneralAppropriation Bill, the Departmentof Health has authority to establisha policy granting compensatorytime off for employeeswho work in excess of eight hours per day or forty hours per week.
Yours very truly,

TIM:& APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE Geo. P. Blackburn, Chairman Robert T. Lewis C. Dean Davis J. Arthur Sandlin Henry G. Braswell WILL WILSON Attorney General of Texas

BY&~'~~ Tom I. McFarllng Assistant

REVIEWED FORTHE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: W. V. Geppert