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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Not to change the topic, but my agency provides 2 15-minute paid breaks, and I think many others do.  Does your agency enforce taking those breaks?  One of my friends at another agency combines those to "cover" the unpaid 30 minute lunch, which isn't allowed per se but she says everyone does it.[/quote]

Your friend is commiting time card fraud. [/quote]

I don't know if it's the same poster doing this, but someone is throwing out the "fraud" word very liberally, which is different from non-compliance with T&A policy.

Fraud is the intentional misreporting of time to the government in order to gain unearned benefit.  Coming into the office for 1 hour and charging 8 hours is clear fraud.  Not working on a telework day is fraud.  Charging 3 hrs OT when leaving after 8 hours is fraud.  I get that.

Performing work at the wrong time per policy, however, isn't a clear case of fraud.  The key distinction is work being performed.  The IG is after people who are charging time and not working.  If you are working and have evidence of work being performed, timecard fraud is not going to be the conclusion.

Also, for all the people working through lunch and not reporting the time, isn't that technically timecard fraud?  Isn't it illegal to work for free for the government?

Bottom line: report your time accuracy and in a manner that can be justified and you'll be fine.[/quote]

No. you can work as much extra as you want to. You cannot leave before 8.5 hours. We need very senior approval for overtime. I've never gotten it in 10 years as a fed. [/quote]

In my agency, underreporting time is a major no-no.  It sets up unrealistic expectations for workloads and leads to performance management issues.  For example, if an employee is routinely working unreported OT, they may increase their productivity and get a higher performance rating than an employee following their defined schedule, creating an unfair playing field.  Our leadership tells us fairly often that we need to report all our time.  OT has to be pre-approved, but supervisors are held accountable why employees can't get their work done in their defined schedule.  Plus it's also an FLSA violation to work off the clock if you are non-exempt. [/quote]

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