Rule 7: Hours in Week, Outside Employment, Overtime, Legal Holidays and Leaves of Absence

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7.01 HOURS IN WORK WEEK

The number of hours constituting the workweek for an employee of the Harris County Sheriff’s Department is forty (40) hours.

7.02 EMPLOYMENT OUTSIDE OF THE DEPARTMENT

(a) The Civil Service Commission will not permit any member of the Harris County Sheriff’s Department to contract for, or be engaged in, any work of any kind outside regular working hours for compensation, unless specifically authorized to do so by the Sheriff or his designee. The Sheriff or his designee will be required to maintain in his office a permanent record of all outside employment which has been authorized and will be available to the Civil Service Commission upon request.

(b) The Sheriff or his designee will maintain a current record of such approvals and will make available a report on same to the Civil Service Commission upon request.

7.03 OVERTIME

(a) Any employee filling a position allocated to any class for which a monthly salary schedule is established may be required to work in excess of the number of hours prescribed for full-time employment by order of the Sheriff or an officer in his supervisory chain of command.

(b) The method of compensation for overtime will be in accordance with the prevailing policy established by Commissioners Court.

(c) In order to meet emergency situations, the employee’s supervisor may temporarily adjust the hours of any individual employee or group of employees to provide for different schedules of hours or for overtime services outside of regular work hours, provided that such adjustments do not result in the requiring of less than the hours per week prescribed for full-time employment and provided further that employment in excess of the hours prescribed for full-time employment be predicated entirely on the operating need of the department. The schedule of work and procedure prescribed by the Sheriff will be designed to eliminate excessive or unnecessary use of overtime.

(d) In case of the death of an employee who, at the time of his death, has authorized overtime compensation due him under the existing rules, payment for such overtime will be made in accordance with prevailing Harris County Policy established by Commissioners Court.

7.04 LEGAL HOLIDAYS

(a) Holidays for all employees of the Harris County Sheriff’s Department will be as set forth in the Harris County Personnel Regulations or as may be designated by Commissioners Court.

(b) The Sheriff may request some or all employees of his Department to report for work on any of the legal holidays. In all such cases, the Sheriff will arrange that the employees who work on such holidays receive compensation as described in subsection 7.03 (b).

7.05 LEAVE OF ABSENCE

(a) Leaves of absence fall into the categories as set forth in the Harris County Personnel Regulations that also set forth the maximum leave periods.

(b) Leaves of absence may be granted by the Sheriff on application of the employee concerned on forms prescribed by Harris County Commissioners Court. Leaves of absence will be subject to the needs of the Department. Any leave granted may be canceled before its expiration date, in which event proper effort will be made to notify the employee promptly of such cancellation.

(c) The request for leave of absence, together with the reasons for the request, the period of leave desired, and a full statement as to the desire or intention of the employee to return to duty with the Harris County Sheriff’s Department, will be made in writing on the forms prescribed.

(d) Leave of absence from duty will in no case be granted to an employee who has been in the Harris County Sheriff’s Department for less than one (1) year immediately preceding the date of leave, except in the case of sickness, disability, or urgent necessity, in which case the application for leave will be accompanied by such proof as the Sheriff may require.

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