No, private-sector employers are not allowed to use comp time under Indiana law. There are some situations in which public-sector employees can be given comp time in lieu of overtime payment. But for most employees across the state, comp time should not be used.
Rather than giving the employee additional time off, employers are obligated to pay them 1.5 times their standard rate. This is actually why many workers are eager to take overtime hours if they can get them, as it can dramatically increase their pay during the week. Employers need to pay them appropriately, based on their hourly wage, and should not try to skirt these laws by offering them other types of compensation.
What is comp time?
Compensatory time off is something that employees should recognize if it is offered to them. It essentially means that the worker will be given additional time off to balance the hours that they worked.
For instance, an employee may work 45 hours during the week. Their boss then tells them to come in five hours late on the following Monday. Their boss believes that this evens things out so that they can be paid their standard wage for the entire time.
Not only is this prohibited for private-sector employees, but it would not even be an even exchange. Because that employee should have been paid time and a half, giving them five hours off would only pay them at their standard rate. They would actually need 7.5 hours off to make up for the same amount of pay.
But again, most employers are not allowed to offer this type of exchange in the first place.
Wage and hour violations
Have you been offered comp time or manipulated into using it so that you do not get paid the amount you are due? If so, it is important to understand wage and hour laws and your legal options.
