Except as provided under provisions governing flexible and compressed work schedules and nonstandard tours of duty, full-time employees will be assigned to standard tours of duty that conform to the following requirements:
Assignments to tours of duty will be scheduled in advance and will cover periods of at least one week;
The basic workweek of 40 hours will consist of 5 days, preferably Monday through Friday, and the 2 days outside the basic workweek will be consecutive;
The basic workweek will not be altered because of the occurrence of a holiday;
The basic non-overtime workday will not exceed 8 hours and will not be split by an off-duty period of more than 1 hour; and
The working hours will be the same for each day of the basic workweek.
Hours of Duty for Headquarters Employees in the Washington D. C. Metro Area
Tours of duty for headquarters employees are established as detailed in the section on Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules. Supervisors may restrict employees to a standard tour of duty if the employee fails to meet the requirements of the tour or if the work situation so requires. Each case will be documented in writing and a copy of the documentation will be given to the employee.
Hours of Duty for Field Employees
Working hours for field employees will be determined, in accordance with delegated authority, by the appropriate managers or supervisors according to the requirements of the work and local practice.
For employees on standard tours of duty, the workweek consists of 5 consecutive days of 8 working hours each, preferably Monday through Friday, with an unpaid lunch period not to exceed 1 hour.
Adjustment to Established Hours of Duty
Adjustments to standard tours may not be made for the personal convenience of individual employees, except those attending school as provided in the section on nonstandard tours of duty.
Part-time Employment
A part-time employee works on a regularly scheduled tour of duty of less than 40 hours a week. Part-time typically is defined as working 16-32 hours per week. However, in certain instances, employees may be allowed to perform regularly scheduled work of 1-15 hours per week.. (These employees usually are students in Tenure groups I or II. [5 CFR 340.202(b)]. The calendar days and hours of scheduled duty are the same each week and must be officially scheduled in advance in the same manner as for full-time employees. Hours of work outside the regularly scheduled tour may be approved, as demanded by the work situation. For additional information, contact your servicing personnel office.
Intermittent Employment
An intermittent employee is employed on an occasional or irregular basis, as needed, and has no regularly scheduled tour of duty or guaranteed number of hours per week.
Use of Part-time and Intermittent Tours
Employees will not be assigned part-time or intermittent work schedules in situations where it is anticipated, or where experience has shown, that employees will be working on a full-time basis.
Employees will be assigned intermittent work schedules only when it is impractical to assign a regularly scheduled tour.
Schedule C Employees
By Memorandum dated May 14, 1997, Terry Medley, Administrator, relayed Assistant Secretary Dunn’s decision that all schedule C employees were to be on a standard tour of duty 5 days per week.
