Such work should be pre-approved if it will result in overtime work. If an employee drives a car without being offered public transportation, that travel is compensable as work and that employee is entitled to overtime compensation for any hours traveled in excess of 40 hours in a calendar week, regardless if the travel was after regularly scheduled work hours. Any overtime eligible employee who works or has compensable travel time in excess of 40 hours in any calendar week should be compensated in accordance with Directive No. 97-07, Overtime Compensation. An overtime eligible employee attending a conference, meeting or training is working and is entitled to overtime compensation for any time spent in excess of 40 hours in a calendar week attending such programs provided attendance is required by the employing agency, or the employee believes that non-attendance will prejudice working conditions or employment standing. Attendance is outside the employee's regular working hours.
Attendance is truly voluntary.
The employee does not perform productive work to benefit the agency while attending. The training or meeting is not directly related to the employee's job. If an employee, on his or her own initiative, attends school, college or training after hours, the time is not hours worked even if the courses are job related. Such employees need not be paid overtime, but are generally granted compensatory time in accordance with Directive 97-06, Compensatory Time. Overtime exempt employees are often not required to attend training, but frequently request permission to voluntarily attend lectures, seminars, meetings, training programs and similar activities.