If you are a fed, what hours do you work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are required to take a lunch break.

We are required to work the extra 1/2 hour but we are not required to take lunch or should I say people are not required to not schedule meetings, etc during lunch.

I will eat - but it is while working and often my meetings are international so I am on the phone so I can eat then.

[Anonymous]

I meant we are not allowed to work 8 hours straight and then leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I meant we are not allowed to work 8 hours straight and then leave.

Likewise, we are required to do the full 8.5 hours but count only 8. Doesn't matter what we actually do with the extra, though. I usually use it to go for a long walk or go to CVS or whatever. Then I eat lunch back at my desk while working. I think this schedule is pretty standard, excepting the one PP who said she managed not to have to take it. I've never heard of anyone else being able to do that. Must be specific to her manager or her agency. It is interesting how much variation there can be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lol this is all bullshit

Why?

[Anonymous]

I work 8-4:30. Our office is pretty flexible in terms of setting your own hours--I have colleagues who work 9-5:30 and 9:30-6. We have external (litigation) deadlines, so people are pretty self-motivated to get their work done. No difference noted because of the sequester--we all have more work to do because we're understaffed, but the supervisors care about the work, not the exact hours.

[Anonymous]

6 or 6:30 to 4:00. Lunch is whatever I can eat while trying to do 3 other things at my desk. GS-14 in an understaffed office.

[Anonymous]

GS-14 here. I am in the office 9-5. I eat lunch at my desk. But I work an hour from home in AM, and another hour at home in PM.

[Anonymous]

I work 8-4:30 as well. There's a range of start and end times and most of my coworkers do a flex schedule where they get every other Friday off. We do have core hours, but they still allow a great deal of flexibility.

In practice, I have a hard time actually getting to the office by 8 with day care dropoff. DH is supposed to do it, but is temporarily unable to do so (that should be changing in about 2 months). My boss knows the situation and is understanding of it. I make up the time by rarely taking a full lunch break and checking/responding to email on my morning commute. Since I leave early, I usually check email in the evening as well and deal with anything I can from home.

As long as you get your work done, no one is a hardass about exact times.

[Anonymous]

These work schedules are bumming me out. Not much different from the private sector; I thought a perk of working for the govt was flex time?

[Anonymous]

I'm a consultant and my current clients are GS 15s who work from 8 - 6 or 7 pretty regularly. They very occasionally take lunch but usually eat something at their desks while following up on e-mail, etc.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:7:00am to 3:00pm. No lunch.

Thought a lunch break is required by law.

No.

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/breaks.htm

Wow, thought gov't jobs were supposed to be decent and full of benefits, even though I don't think of a lunch break as a benefit but just something that is part of a job.

I could have a lunch break if I wanted. I just don't want it.

So you can go home earlier?

This is actually not legal.
Yes. To minimize commute time and spend more time with family.

[Anonymous]

uh that is illegal. You are not allowed to skip lunch to minimize your commute or spend more time with your family.

I work 9:30 to 6:30ish. GS 15. I can be flexible so some days I take lunch, some days I don't. Some days I come in at 7:00am. Core hours are 10:00am to 3:00pm but really it is a 24 hour a day agency, my position is not though. No comp time or overtime. You only get comp time for travel if it is outside working hours. I sometimes take work home on weekends or evenings.

[Anonymous]

GS-12 here, started my Fed job last November. No one told me that it was illegal to work 8 hours straight & then go home, so that's what I've been doing. (My first week here, my supervisor told me she didn't care what hours I worked, as long as the work got done.) That said, it makes sense that it would be illegal, so I'll try to build in a lunch break this summer & after.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GS-12 here, started my Fed job last November. No one told me that it was illegal to work 8 hours straight & then go home, so that's what I've been doing. (My first week here, my supervisor told me she didn't care what hours I worked, as long as the work got done.) That said, it makes sense that it would be illegal, so I'll try to build in a lunch break this summer & after.

Some offices allow people to take their break at the end of the day, i.e., work 8 hours and leave. If your office doesn't mind, I wouldn't worry about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband works from 6:30 am to about 5:15 pm M-F and usually eats lunch at his desk. He's a GS 15.

Why would he work so long for so little?

My guess would be that it's because he loves his job (or cares passionately that the work gets done, or some combination).

The GS-15 salary starts at $123k, which to most Americans is a lot of money. I wish I made that much; it would allow my husband to quit the job he hates and would still give us an extra $10k to live large.