(a) At the request of an employee, the head of an agency may grant compensatory time off from an employee's tour of duty instead of payment under §532.503 or the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, for an equal amount of irregular or occasional overtime work.

(b) At the request of an employee, the head of an agency may grant compensatory time off from an employee's basic work requirement under a flexible work schedule under 5 U.S.C. 6122 instead of payment under §532.503 or the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, for an equal amount of overtime work, whether or not irregular or occasional in nature.

(c) An agency may not require that an employee be compensated for overtime work with an equal amount of compensatory time off from the employee's tour of duty. An employee may not directly or indirectly intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any other employee for the purpose of interfering with such employee's rights to request or not to request compensatory time off in lieu of payment for overtime hours.

(d) The head of a department may fix a time limit for an employee to request or take compensatory time off and may provide that an employee who fails to take compensatory time earned under paragraph (a) or (b) of this section before the time limit fixed shall lose the right to compensatory time off and to overtime pay unless the failure is due to an exigency of the service beyond the employee's control.

[62 FR 28307, May 23, 1997]