Section 1. The basic work week in the Library shall normally consist of five (5) workdays of eight (8) hours each, Monday through Friday. This provision is not to be construed as a limitation on the right of the Library to establish shifts or effect changes in established shifts.

Section 2. Those divisions which have operational requirements that include Saturdays, Sundays, and/or evenings shall establish a basic eighty (80) hour per pay period schedule. The Library shall designate for each employee the days in the administrative workweek which shall be non-work days in lieu of Saturday and Sunday.

Section 3. Employees shall normally be notified of any changes in the work schedule at least one week in advance.

Section 4. All applicable laws and regulations regarding the administrative workweek remain in effect unless specifically modified by this article. Special work schedules will be permitted to continue and be authorized in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

Section 5. Employees shall have the right to request a part-time schedule in accordance with applicable regulations and 5 USC Ch 34. Part-time employment is implemented and governed by the applicable LCR, except as otherwise specified in this Agreement. In accordance with the applicable LCR, this Agreement, and in consideration of operational needs, part-time staff should receive the same consideration as full-time staff for training, developmental assignments, awards, and scheduling leave.

Section 6. Employees are required to account for hours worked on a daily basis. Procedures for the administration of time and attendance records shall be in accordance with applicable guidelines. Current sign-in procedures will remain in effect. Should the Library wish to change such procedures, the Parties will meet, consult, and bargain over the impact and implementation.

Section 7. Employees will receive two daily rest breaks of twenty (20) minutes duration, one to be taken in the morning and one to be taken in the afternoon, or for each four (4) hours worked. The time of these breaks is to be determined by the supervisor in a non-arbitrary manner. Rest breaks shall not be taken during the first or last hour of the employee's workday, nor in conjunction with the lunch period. Employees on their breaks shall not interfere with the work of employees not on break.

Section 8. Unless the supervisor specifies otherwise in advance, an employee on temporary assignment for training will observe the work schedule of the organization to which assigned, or the requirements of the established training schedule.

Section 9. Alternative Work Schedule

1. Definitions:
   1. an alternative work schedule is any working arrangement which enables employees to fulfill the basic work requirement of eighty (80) hours per pay period in less than ten full work days, and which permits employees to vary their starting and quitting times on a daily basis, subject to core periods during which all employees are required to work, and specified flexible bands during which employees are allowed to work;
   2. a non-work day is any scheduled day off, which will normally be Sunday, Monday, Friday, or Saturday.
      
      
2. Employees must choose one of the following scheduling options, subject to the exclusions specified herein:
   1. a flexitime schedule, if applicable to the division or office, or a fixed schedule; or;
   2. a 5-4/9 plan (compflex), under which the employee works eight (8) nine-hour days and one (1) eight-hour day each pay period, with the eight-hour day normally falling on the last workday of the pay period.
   3. a 4-4/10 (maxiflex) plan, under which the employee works four (4) ten-hour days each week.
      
      

   The employee is required to be present for the core hours of the days which he/she works.
   
   

3. Core and flexible periods shall be as follows:
   Core days Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday;
   Core hours, M-F 9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.; and
   Flex bands, M-F 6:30 - 9:30 a.m. - 3:00 - 8:00 p.m.
   
   
4. Mid-day Flex. In addition to a normal lunch period, an employee may take time away from the job between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., with prior supervisory approval, if the employee makes up the work time during the morning or afternoon bands and therefore works a full tour of duty or requests leave for the difference.
   
   
5. Employee Election. Compflex/Maxiflex is open to full-time employees only. Employees participating in compflex/maxiflex will request a schedule in advance for approval by their supervisor. Supervisors will attempt to accommodate an employee's request. At least two weeks prior to the beginning of each six (6) month period starting in April and October of each year, full-time employees eligible to participate in a compressed and flexible work schedule must elect, on a form to be developed by the Parties, flexitime or the 5-4/9 or 4-4/10 plans. Employees who elect the 5-4/9 or 4-4/10 plans must also specify their choices of non-work days; a single day will be their non-work day for the entire period of election. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are core days and may not be chosen as non-work days. The supervisor may approve, disapprove, or amend the employee's requested schedule as required by operational conditions and/or the schedules of other employees. However, when a holiday falls on an employee's scheduled non-work day, Tuesdays or Thursdays may be used in lieu of holidays if required by Section H below.
   
   
6. Employee Withdrawal. An employee who has established a compflex/maxiflex schedule may request to withdraw during the six-month period only because of personal hardship, such as a change in the employee's health or family care arrangements, subject to the approval of the Library. An employee who wishes to withdraw from compflex/maxiflex shall submit to his/her supervisor a written request detailing the particular hardship and desire to withdraw from compflex/maxiflex. The supervisor shall give a decision of approval or disapproval in writing to the employee.
7. Leave. Alternative work schedules are not intended to increase or decrease an employee's existing entitlement to leave or creditable service for retirement purposes. Leave is earned based on an eighty-hour pay period and is to be taken and charged based on the number of hours which an employee is absent from the approved schedule of duty.
   
   
8. Holidays.
   1. Holiday entitlement will be based on the individual schedule for the day on which the holiday falls.
   2. If the observance of a holiday falls on an employee's non-workday and the employee's non-workday is a Monday, then the Tuesday following the observance becomes the non-workday. If the observance falls on the employee's non-workday and the non-workday is any day other than a Monday, the day preceding the observance becomes the non-workday.
      
      
9. Overtime. Overtime for employees participating in compflex/maxiflex schedules is defined as that work or duty time in excess of ten (10) hours in a ten-hour day, nine (9) hours in a nine-hour day, or eight (8) hours in an eight-hour day or more than eighty (80) hours in a pay period, that is specifically ordered and approved by management in accordance with applicable provisions of law.
   
   
10. Travel, Training, and ADS. When an employee participating in compflex/maxiflex is on travel, work-related injury status, military leave, jury duty, or training away from the agency, the employee's schedule will revert back to ten (10) eight-hour days for the pay period in which the special status occurs.

Section 10. Implementation.

1. All previous exclusions and modifications of flexitime and compressed workweek arrangements remain in full force and effect and are hereby incorporated into this Agreement.
   
   
2. Participation in flexitime or compflex/maxiflex may be restricted or barred from new employees or employees in training status.
   
   
3. Management may also exclude individual employees or groups of employees from coverage, when:
   1. operational considerations (e.g., efficiency, productivity and /or service) prevent either full or partial use of flexitime or compflex/maxiflex for the employee(s) involved; or
   2. the employee(s) needs close supervision because of disciplinary or performance-related considerations (i.e., for employees under warning or adverse action); or
   3. employee(s) has abused flexitime or compflex/maxiflex and as a result have been subjected to a warning and/or subjected themselves to disciplinary action, when determined appropriate.
      
      
4. The Library reserves the right to require an employee to perform work assigned or to require him/her to appear for work when ordered to accomplish its organizational mission.

Section 11. Termination.

The Parties acknowledge that the practice and continuance of flexitime, compflex, or maxiflex, is subject to its effect on productivity, public service operations, or increased cost to the Library. Flexitime, compflex, or maxiflex may be terminated in whole or in part in accordance with applicable law. In cases where the Library proposes to terminate flexitime, compflex, or maxiflex schedules, it shall bear the burden of showing that the continuance of the program is likely to have an adverse agency impact.

Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington, D.C. 20540
Comments: lcweb@loc.gov
(04/16/02)