"Comp time," or compensatory time refers to the practice of allowing an employee to take extra time off from work after a long week, instead of being paid overtime wages. What you may not know, however, that in most situations, the practice is illegal, if you are working for a private, non-governmental employer, and you are a "non-exempt" employee otherwise eligible for overtime pay. For example, if you work 56 hours in a week and you are told that you can have two eight-hour days off in some other week to offset the extra 16 hours, this is probably a violation of the law. You are supposed to be paid overtime for the 16 hours you worked in the first week. For more information about comp time, please see our site's comp time page.